Chapter 8, "Holy War" Summary and Analysis

James Carroll flashes back in this chapter to 1965, before Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot but after Pope John XXIII is dead. The new Pope Paul VI celebrates Mass October 4, 1965, at Yankee Stadium. Mary Carroll is delighted to be a personal guest of Cardinal Spellman and helps welcome the Pope. His Holiness addresses the United Nations for its twentieth-year celebration. He proclaims peace must guide the destiny of mankind and speaks in the name of the poor, the disinherited and those who hunger for justice. His speech stuns the President, Cardinal Spellman, General Carroll and others that promote the Vietnam War, provide information, and approve Operation Rolling Thunder. Mary Carroll does not realize his message of peace humiliates Spellman. A "Declaration of Conscience" is signed by hundreds that agree with the Pope and includes Martin...