Books: When the Pope Was Russian

THE SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN (374 pp.)—Morris L. West—Morrow ($4.95).

Kiril Lakota was a Ukrainian, and at 50 he was the youngest and most obscure of the 85 cardinals who met in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new Pope. His very name had just become known in Rome, having been kept in petto by the dead Pontiff—as are currently the names of three cardinals in the breast of Pope John. Said Kiril to his brother princes: "I have spent the last 17 years in prison. If I have any rights among you. let it be...

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