Presents a behind-the-scenes perspective on the Vatican's inner workings that challenges popular perceptions, revealing the personal conflicts, authority-undermining scandals, and modern considerations that are challenging the Vatican's daily business.

The sensational story of the last two centuries of the papacy, its most influential pontiffs, troubling doctrines, and rise in global authority. "In 1799, the papacy was at rock bottom: The Papal States had been swept away and Rome seized by the revolutionary French armies. With cardinals scattered across Europe and the next papal election uncertain, even if Catholicism survived, it seemed the papacy was finished. In this gripping narrative of religious...

"From a bold new historian comes a vibrant history of Rome as seen through its most influential persona throughout the centuries: the pope. Rome is a city of echoes, where the voice of the people has chimed and clashed with the words of princes, emperors, and insurgents across the centuries. In this authoritative new history, Jessica Wärnberg tells the story of Rome's longest standing figurehead and interlocutor--the pope--revealing how his presence...