The Secret Emissary

Book excerpt: The Secret Emissary tells the story of a young Mexican from a wealthy family in Sonora, Mexico. Educated in Spain, Luis Esquerre Calella de Valderano is a skilled researcher and writer, and with a penchant for international relations and diplomacy, he becomes an unofficial Vatican liaison with an American diplomat during the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. A talented academic, accomplished musician, and agile sportsman—a friend to popes and aristocrats alike—Luis becomes a collaborator in underground activities against Fascists in Italy, Germany, and Spain. As a covert agent for the Jesuit Superior General and Popes Pius XI and XII and a secret liaison between the Vatican and Jesuit Curia and American military intelligence, Luis cuts a swath through history as he becomes a Monsignor, a Bishop, and after World War II, a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church.