The Mediterranean, both a sea and a theatre, has served throughout history as a fundamental crossroads for the political-religious dynamics and international tensions that characterize the various worlds, east and west, south and north, that meet in this basin. Starting from these premises, the present work examines - within a chronological span that goes from the conclusion of the Second World War to the end of Pius XII’s pontificate - the contribution offered by the Holy See and by Catho...

"I have felt like Saint Peter with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has given us so many days of sun and of light winds, days when the catch was abundant; there were also moments when the waters were rough and the winds against us, as throughout the Church’s history, and the Lord seemed to be sleeping. But I have always known that the Lord is in that boat, and I have always known that the barque of the Church is not mine but his. Nor does the Lord let it sink; it is...

The New York Times Bestseller'[An] earth-shaking exposé of clerical corruption' - National Catholic ReporterIn the Closet of the Vatican exposes the rot at the heart of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church today. This brilliant piece of investigative writing is based on four years' authoritative research, including extensive interviews with those in power.The celibacy of priests, the condemnation of t...

"Wonderful . . . offers and provokes meditation on the timeless nature of censorship, its practices, its intentions and . . . its (unintended) outcomes." — Times Higher EducationForbidden Knowledge explores the censorship of medical books from their proliferation in print through the prohibitions placed on them during the Counter-Reformation. How and why did books banned in Italy in the sixteenth century end up back on library shelves in the sevent...

Focolare, Community of Sant’Egidio, Neocatechumenal Way, Legionaries of Christ, Communion and Liberation, Opus Dei. These are but a few of the most recognizable names in the broader context of the so-called ecclesial movements. Their history goes back to the period following the First Vatican Council, crosses Vatican II, and develops throughout the twentieth century. It is a history that prepares the movements’ rise in the last three decades, from John Paul II to Francis. These movements a...

2022 Catholic Media Association honorable mention Pope Francis2022 Catholic Media Association honorable mention in English translation editionOne element of the church that Pope Francis was elected to lead in 2013 was an ideology that might be called the “American” model of Catholicism—the troubling result of efforts by intellectuals like Michael Novak, George Weigel, and Richard John Neuhaus to remake Catholicism into bot...

For more than four hundred years, the Catholic Church’s Index Librorum Prohibitorum struck terror into the hearts of authors, publishers and booksellers around the world, while arousing ridicule and contempt from many others, especially those in Protestant and non-Christian circles. Biased, inconsistent and frequently absurd in its attempt to ban objectionable texts of every conceivable description – with sometimes fatal consequences – the Index also reflected the deep learning an...

The Politics of Religion in Napoleonic Italy explores the intense cultural conflict created by French rule in Italy at the start of the nineteenth century. Napoleon's desire for cultural conformity struck at the heart of Italian religious life. Yet the reforms imposed by French rule created resentment and resistance across Italy, finally leading to Napoleon's famous quarrel with Pope Pius VII.In this fascinating study, Mike Broers traces the events leading up to the ex-comm...

An analysis of the new ecclesial movements from an historical and transatlantic perspective (Europe-USA).

Diplomacy in Renaissance Rome is an investigation of Renaissance diplomacy in practice. Presenting the first book-length study of this subject for sixty years, Catherine Fletcher substantially enhances our understanding of the envoy's role during this pivotal period for the development of diplomacy. Uniting rich but hitherto unexploited archival sources with recent insights from social and cultural history, Fletcher argues for the centrality of the papal court - and the city of Rome - in t...

A biography of the saint as both mystic and man: "The single best book about Francis now available in English" ( Commonweal).In this towering work, Andre Vauchez draws on the vast body of scholarship on Francis of Assisi, particularly the important research of recent decades, to create a complete and engaging portrait of the saint. He also explores how the memory of Francis was shaped by contemporaries who recollected him in their writings, and completes t...

The news of Benedict XVI stepping down has come as a shock.Perhaps the world will never know the real reasons behind a choice that will forever remain indelibly written in the history of the Church.The Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, has decided to reveal the thorny issues within the Roman Curia and handed me dozens of documents that I have now published along with my research and investigations in this book.“Paolo, are you afraid?” – I asked him one day - “Yes, I am af...