Vatican Spy Rings

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Manhattan’s Knoedler Gallery made about $80 million selling art by Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and other Abstract Expressionist icons. But in 2011, the truth came out: the paintings were forgeries. The buyers were scammed. E ... Show More

Nikola Tesla patented over 300 inventions. When he died, the US government confiscated 80 trunks of his notes and blueprints… and only returned 60 to his heir. In his lifetime, Tesla tinkered with weather control machines, alien transmission readers, and a “death ray” that would ... Show More

Several murders have been dubbed “the crime of the century," but the Lindbergh kidnapping case of 1932 might actually deserve the title. According to some, it shaped the culture of conspiracy theories in America. Was Bruno Richard Hauptmann really guilty, or was he framed? Did he ... Show More

Now wearing the papal tiara, Pope Alexander VI was determined to root out the corruption that had plagued Rome and the Vatican. But as his papacy continued, rumors began to spread that the Spanish pope was guilty of his own corruption, murder, and incest. Learn more about your ad ... Show More

Best remembered for his invention of the calendar we still use today, Pope Gregory XIII became a voice for reform in the Catholic Church by pulling the Vatican out of the dark ages and into the modern era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 

Elevated into power by his uncle, Pope Calixtus III, Rodrigo Borgia became instrumental in settling affairs throughout the Papal States. As a cardinal, he orchestrated the election of popes for decades — all the while biding his time before making his own moves to become a pope h ... Show More

Giovanni de' Medici was a shrewd strategist who became pope before the age of 40. As a cardinal, he ended the Medicis’ exile in Florence, returning the dynasty to their seat of power. As pope, he would nearly bankrupt the Vatican — and upend the Christian world. Learn more about ... Show More

Pope Paul VI was in charge of the Catholic Church in a tumultuous time. Communists are locking up Catholic priests, the Vietnam War is raging on, and free love is in full swing. Does he modernise and change with the time? Or does he batten the hatches and stick to the status quo? ... Show More

In Australia, an Easter Sunday vision set William Karr on a God-given path to start a family and fight the anti-Christ. Two decades later, in the 1980s, he had the beginnings of a religious movement, the attention of the Catholic Church, and a secret seventeen-year-old wife. Lear ... Show More

The occult society of magicians, Ordo Templi Orientis, has divided public opinion since its founding in Germany around 1890. Are they innovative philosophers, or do they worship Satan? Take a walk into the O.T.O.'s world of blood, rituals, and sex magic. Learn more about your ad ... Show More

When Roberto Calvi's body was found swinging from a London bridge in 1982 it sent shockwaves through the religious, financial and criminal worlds. But who killed him? And how are the Vatican, Italy's powerful Mafia, a secret society called P2 and a Pope's death all linked in this ... Show More

After tens of thousands of people witnessed the so-called Miracle of the Sun, the Catholic Church tried to suppress and later control testimony regarding the miracle. Along with rumors of alien skulls stored in the Vatican archives, the church's strange behavior has led many to w ... Show More

Robert of Geneva was elected Pope Clement VII on 20th September, 1378. Inconveniently, there was already a pope: Urban VI. Cue three decades of confusion and division, as citizens and nations had to choose which pope to support - the one in Rome, or the one Avignon - the situatio ... Show More