His works often were focused on international politics and the role of the Roman Catholic Church in international affairs. One of his most famous works, The Shoes of the Fisherman, envisioned the election and career of a Slavic Pope, 15 years before the ascension of Karol Wojtyla to his historical role of becoming Pope John Paul II. Morris West died while working at his desk on the final chapters of his novel The Last Confession about the trials and imprisonment of Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake for heresy in 1600. Bruno was a figure with whom West had long sympathized and even identified. In 1969 he had published a play The Heretic on the same subject.