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Cover of The Final Conclave

How long does it take to read The Final Conclave?

Malachi Martin

The Final Conclave by Malachi Martin takes about 6 hours 34 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 6 hours 34 minutes

A weekend read

First published 1978. 358 pages, about 98,450 words.

14 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 10 hours 56 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 6 hours 34 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 4 hours 6 minutes

The page count is the median across 6 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

The shroud of secrecy that has surrounded the Church of Rome has mystified and troubled millions of Catholics as well as non-Catholics. This book reveals how influential members of that Church were ready to make their accommodation with a future under communism. The price of the Church's survival, they believed, must be a radical departure from Western institutions and the way of life we have all known. Opposed to them are other important officials who plead for a restoration of the Church to its proper role. The final decision taken by all these men, who speak for one quarter of the world's population, was made in the course of Conclave 82, a special meeting after the death of Paul VI at which the next Pope was elected. Dr. Martin, a former Jesuit, takes us behind the scenes to witness the forbidden maneuvering for Peter's crown and its worldly power; from the beginning of the seventies, many of the Cardinals have been electioneering.^ We learn why the sweeping changes of Paul VI, made--he was convinced--to assure the very survival of the Church, have pushed the Cardinals to one of the most critical decisions in our history. We watch the deal-makers, the holy men, the politicking, and the cynical alliances as the various factions attempt to gain control. All of the Cardinals are confronted by the accumulated corruption of more than a millennium: the Church as businessman, as a multi-national conglomerate involved in ownership and management of property, and as power-broker dealing in countries, continents, and human liberty. In the heart of this book, Malachi Martin recreates the actual scenario of Conclave 82. The reader will know more about the complete process from having experienced it in this book than many a Cardinal-Elector, including how illegal secret communications with the outside world are maintained.^ In a dramatic crescendo we witness a climax more moving than any play can ever be because we know it involves the future lives of nations, including our…

Subjects: Popes, Election, Catholic Church, Communism and religion, Popes, election

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