Riccardo: The Man Who Blew Up the Pope

The embalming of Pope Pius XII ends in catastrophe : his body decomposes before horrified witnesses, exploding during the funeral procession. As the Vatican scrambles to contain the disaster, scandal erupts. "Paris Match" publishes a secret medical diary and a shocking deathbed photograph of the pontiff — the first time a Pope has ever been seen stripped of all dignity. At the center is Riccardo G...

Pope Pius XII is dead . His longtime physician, Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi , remains at his side, carrying out his final duty. But above all looms Cardinal Eugène Tisserant — the iron-fisted Dean of the College of Cardinals — determined to dismantle Pacelli’s inner circle . Sister Pasqualina , the Pope’s housekeeper and right hand, is forced out . And Riccardo makes a desperate gamble: an experimental...

October 1958. Pope Pius XII is dying in Castel Gandolfo. Beside his bed: doctors, nuns… and Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi , leaking secrets to the press. A false death announcement shocks the world. A forbidden photograph captures the pontiff in his last moments. And Riccardo, the Pope’s own doctor, prepares the most disastrous embalming in history. Discover more at RiccardoPodcast.com — where, starting...

In 1954, Pius XII’s health collapses — and with it, his trust in his lifelong doctor, Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi . Newly unearthed diaries from Cardinal Domenico Tardini expose a year of rivalries , deception , and failed cures: rectal feeding , false medical bulletins, and the clash between Riccardo and the charismatic Dr. Paul Niehans . As the Pope suffers visions and humiliation , medicine turns in...

As the Montesi scandal fades, it leaves deep scars on Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi and his bond with Pius XII . In the aftermath, Riccardo descends into a forbidden world: by 1954, he is promoting M.B.R. 36, a fraudulent cancer cure , while secretly dabbling in séances and the occult — practices condemned by the Church. Newly uncovered documents and unheard testimony reveal how this descent pushed one o...

1953. On the beach at Capocotta — before the hunting estate of Dr. Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi — the body of young Wilma Montesi is discovered. What should have been a routine investigation quickly turns into a true crime scandal . Police rush to close the case, dismissing her death as the result of a footbath gone wrong . The explanation is ridiculed across Italy, seen as a blatant cover-up . The murd...

The Vatican under siege. Nazi forces occupy Rome and tighten their grip around St. Peter’s Square, as Hitler plots to kidnap Pope Pius XII . At the Pope’s side stands Dr. Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi — an unorthodox physician, gambler, and keeper of secrets. Surviving the Nazi threat forges their friendship in fear and mystery, binding Pope and doctor closer than ever. After the war, a new rival appears...

As Nazi troops invade Poland, Pope Pius XII faces the most terrifying choice of his life: condemn Hitler and risk the Church’s destruction, or remain silent and watch the world burn. In the shadows of Saint Peter’s Basilica, secret excavations begin to unearth the Apostle’s bones — a mission that becomes a dangerous mix of faith, archaeology, and espionage. Beneath the Vatican, plots to assassinat...

Rome, 1930: a city under fascist rule, where the Vatican seethes with spies , secret deals, and political violence . In this shadowed world, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli — soon to become Pope Pius XII — rises to power, while at his side emerges the unlikely figure of Dr. Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi : gambler , racecar driver , and unorthodox physician. This episode explores their growing bond, tracing Pace...

Every papal death revives a haunting memory: the secret science of preserving the body , and the grotesque disaster of 1958 , when Pope Pius XII ’s corpse exploded. This first episode rewinds to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tracing the parallel rise of Eugenio Pacelli — the future Pope Pius XII, the most powerful pope of the modern era — and Dr. Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi , the ambitious ou...

A true crime podcast uncovering Vatican secrets and scandals. Pope Pius XII — Eugenio Pacelli — the wartime Pope , the most powerful pontiff of the modern era. At his side for thirty years stood Dr. Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi : eye doctor, homeopath, pseudoscientist , gambler , spiritist , even entangled in one of Italy’s most famous cold cases . An extraordinary and improbable figure, bound to the Po...