It was an upset Pope Francis who called his cardinals and bishops naughty. At Christmastime 2014 and again in 2015 Pope Francis scolded the cardinals and bishops of the Catholic Church for their vanity, hypocrisy, back-biting, gossiping, boasting, lusting for power and control, and acting like Lords of the Manor.The truth is that Catholic Church leaders have been naughty for centuries. What many of these supposedly holy men did would disgust you.The book, How the Cathol...

It was an upset Pope Francis who called his cardinals and bishops naughty. At Christmastime 2014 and again in 2015 Pope Francis scolded the cardinals and bishops of the Catholic Church for their vanity, hypocrisy, back-biting, gossiping, boasting, lusting for power and control, and acting like Lords of the Manor.The truth is that Catholic Church leaders have been naughty for centuries. What many of these supposedly holy men did would disgust you.The book, How the Catholic C...

The New York Times–bestselling inside look at one of the world’s most powerful and mysterious institutionsFor more than twenty-five years, John Thavis held one of the most remarkable journalistic assignments in the world: reporting on the inner workings of the Vatican. In The Vatican Diaries, Thavis reveals Vatican City as a place struggling to define itself in the face of internal and external threats, where Curia cardinals fight private wars and...

“Lascelles has achieved the seemingly impossible: a concise and highly readable history of Catholic Popes that manages to be extremely entertaining and informative at the same time.”Gerald Posner, author of God’s Bankers"A brilliant book on a number of different levels. Lascelles has an engaging prose style and an amazing eye for detail and apposite anecdote. Surely only purblind Catholic zelanti will object to this outstanding analysis.”Frank...

Divided into themed sections, linked together with a chronology of the most important events in the life of the Vatican, Secrets of the Vatican includes:THE HISTORY OF THE VATICANThe rise of the Catholic church, from its inauspicious beginnings as a persecuted cult in Rome to its establishment as the world's largest organized religionHOUSES OF THE HOLYA look at the vast wealth of art, sculpture and literature collected in the Vatican Museums and some of the sc...

The riveting story of Pope St. Celestine V, the pope who retired from the papacy.At the close of the tumultuous Middle Ages, there lived a man who seemed destined from birth to save the world. His name was Peter Morrone, a hermit, a founder of a religious order, and, depending on whom you talk to, a reformer, an instigator, a prophet, a coward, a saint, and possibly the victim of murder. A stroke of fate would, practically overnight, transform this humble servant of God into the mo...

**What The Vatican Doesn't Want You To Know:The lies. The conspiracies. The cover-ups. The truth.**Deep behind the walls of the world's holiest site is a dense network of lies, corruption, and conspiracies fueling the Vatican's vast and unchecked influence on world events. From the Holy Orders that defied the commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill" to the scandals splashed across international headlines, the Vatican is no longer shrouded in mystery, legend, and secrecy.

Expanded and updated for the new millennium.Covering the life of Christ, the election of Pope Benedict XVI, and everything in between, A Concise History of the Catholic Church has been one of the bestselling religious histories of the past two decades and a mainstay for scholars, students, and others looking for a definitive, accessible history of Catholicism. With a clarity that will appeal to any reader, Thomas Bokenkotter divides his study into five parts that correspon...

In the 10th century, being head of the Catholic Church didnt stop Pope John XII from allegedly committing incest with his sisters, calling on pagan gods and goddesses, being an alcoholic and putting his mistress in charge of his brothel. Of course, being pope didnt make popes popular either: in 896AD, Pope Formosus died, but that was no obstacle to Lambert of Spoleto, who bore something of a grudge, in exhuming the pontiff and putting him on trial. Formosus was found guilty of being unwort...

This definitive biography of Pope John Paul II explores his historic influence on the world stage: "Magnificent. A tremendous achievement" ( Washington Post).As head of the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death in 2005, John Paul II was one of the world's most transformational figures. With unprecedented cooperation from the Pope, as well as the people who knew and worked with him throughout his life, George Weigel offers a groundbreaking portrait of hi...

The Surprising History and Legacy of the InquisitionThe renowned historian and critic Jonathan Kirsch presents a sweeping history of the Inquisition and the ways in which it has served as the chief model for torture in the West to this day. Ranging from the Knights Templar to the first Protestants; from Joan of Arc to Galileo; from the Inquisition's immense power in Spain after 1492, when the secret tribunals and torture chambers were directed for the first time against Jews and Mu...

John Paul II and the dark heart of the Catholic Church...In 1984 David Yallops In Gods Name changed the way that the world looked at the Vatican. In The Power and The Glory David Yallop returns to Rome with another explosive story: the true history of the papacy of John Paul II. From the first moment of his papacy, Karol Wojtyla sought political influence and a role on the world stage. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, he was a leader to mi...