The Last Word

"The Last Word" is a dystopian short story by the author Graham Greene, written in 1988 (see 1988 in literature). It first appeared in The Independent but can also be found in collections of his short fiction, notably the Penguin edition of The Last Word and Other Stories, for which it is the lead story. The story, written toward the end of Greene's life, reflects his frustration at the declining influence of religion, particularly Catholicism, in the modern world. "The Last Word" is Greene's final short story, before his death from leukaemia in 1991. Plot summary The story revolves around the last Pope, John XXIX, who was overthrown more than twenty years earlier with the establishment of a new world government under General Megrim. The pope is now a frail old man, who lives in obscurity under a moderate form of house arrest, ignored by his neighbours and forbidden to keep any religious items. All he has left is a book, possibly a Bible, that he has managed to hide, and a crucifix with an arm broken off. He is already feeble-minded and has forgotten most of his past, and the world has forgotten him as well—when the concierge at a hotel is told that he is the pope, he answers, "The Pope? What's the Pope?" When the Pope was toppled, there was an attempt to assassinate him, but this failed, and it was afterwards decided not to make him a martyr to the few surviving Christians. Since then, Christianity has been eradicated, and the Pope is now the last surviving Christian.