By John L. Allen Jr., NCR Rome Correspondent
My wife and I were in Gubbio, in Italy's gorgeous Umbrian hills, when word reached us that Gary MacEoin had died. The last time we saw Gary was a couple of years ago during a trip to Italy, at which time he told us that Gubbio, the fabled setting of St. Francis' taming of the wolf, was his favorite spot in the country. We filed the information away for use on a rainy day.

Recently when I needed to pick a spot to work on my new book, All the Pope's Men, we recalled his advice and found a hotel in Gubbio built out of a 16th century Cappuchin monastery. Thus when the lights finally went out in those unforgettable Irish eyes, I was sitting in Gary's favorite Italian spot, working feverishly on a book about the Catholic church. I like to think this is not just chance, and that some of Gary's magic was meant to find me here.

By the way, Gubbio is everything Gary said it was, and it's a bit like him ... small and not much to look at upon first glance, but with a marvelous inner life and passion. I wish he could be here.