Christopher Columbus, the Last Templar

HISTORY / SECRET SOCIETIES "Marino illuminates the spiritual and cultural significance and esoteric roots of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. With a scholar's intellectual discipline, a poet's eye for creativity, and a detective's passion for meaning, his extensive historical research and lyrical writing style bring the Renaissance to life." James Wasserman, author of An Illustrated History of the Knights Templar and The Templars and the Assassins Was Columbus a Templar? According to the historic documents and maps revealed by Ruggero Marino, Columbus shared the Templar dream of Christians, Muslims, and Jews living in peace in a New Jerusalem, and his voyage across the Atlantic was both to find a new passage to Asia and to find the place where the New Jerusalem could be built. Marino draws parallels between Marco Polo's journey east over the Silk Road and Columbus's sea voyages and reveals that Columbus studied ancient texts and maps from the Vatican Library, access to which was granted by Pope Innocent VIII--whom Marino shows to be Columbus's true father. Innocent VIII (whose own father was Jewish and grandmother was Muslim) was the perfect individual to further the Templars' plan to create a universal religion combining the spiritual wisdom of the three faiths. Marino shows that Innocent's "disappearance" and the story that Columbus merely stumbled onto the New World were part of a calculated political and theological cover-up. While King Ferdinand (the model for Machiavelli's The Prince) and Queen Isabella of Spain are heralded with funding Columbus's "discovery" of America, it was Innocent VIII who was the main sponsor and master-mind of the expedition. To obscurethe purpose of the voyages, and give Spain the credit for the New World discovery, Ferdinand and his agent, Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia), Pope Innocent VIII's successor, initiated the disinformation campaign that has lasted for over 500 years. Ruggero Marino is a journalist who has worked for Il Tempo in Rome since 1963 and has served as a special correspondent in over 50 countries. He has been researching the history of Columbus's life and times since 1991, and his first book about Columbus won the Scanno Prize in Italy. He lives in Rome.Marino, Ruggero is the author of 'Christopher Columbus, the Last Templar ', published 2007 under ISBN 9781594771903 and ISBN 1594771901.