Vatican History

Weird but True Stories from the Vatican: Bizarre, Shocking, and Unbelievable Tales of Popes and Power Step behind the holy veil and discover the bizarre side of Vatican history. From corpse trials and papal poisonings to secret exorcisms and beard bans, this gripping and entertaining book uncovers ten strange but true stories from the Catholic Church’s past—each more astonishing than the last. Every chapter reveals a real event drawn from verified historical records and firsthand accounts. Meet the pope who sold the papacy, the one who may have died laughing, and the castrato singer ...

For more than 25 years John Thavis held one of the most fascinating journalistic jobs in the world: reporting on the inner workings of the Vatican. His daily exposure to the power, politics, and personalities in the seat of Roman Catholicism gave him a unique, behind-the-scenes perspective on an institution that is far less monolithic and unified than it first appears. Thavis reveals Vatican City as a place where Curia cardinals fight private wars, scandals threaten to undermine papal authority, and reverence for the past is continually upended by the practical considerations of modern life.

In this disturbing exposé, journalist Paul L. Williams describes a secret alliance forged at the close of World War II by the CIA, the Sicilian and US mafias, and the Vatican to thwart the possibility of a Communist invasion of Europe. Williams presents evidence suggesting the existence, in many European countries, of "stay-behind" units consisting of 5,000 to 15,000 military operatives.

The Vatican's silence in the face of Nazi atrocities remains one of the great controversies of our time. History has accused wartime pontiff Pius the Twelfth of complicity in the Holocaust and dubbed him "Hitler's Pope". But a key part of the story has remained untold. Pius ran the world's largest church, smallest state, and oldest spy service. Saintly but secretive, he skimmed from church charities to pay covert couriers, and surreptitiously tape-recorded his meetings with top Nazis.

From a master chronicler of legal and financial misconduct, a magnificent investigation nine years in the making, this book traces the political intrigue and inner workings of the Catholic Church. Decidedly not about faith, belief in God, or religious doctrine, this audiobook is about the church's accumulation of wealth and its byzantine entanglements with financial markets across the world.

In this popular introduction to church history, now in its third edition, Mark Noll isolates key events that provide a framework for understanding the history of Christianity. The book presents Christianity as a worldwide phenomenon rather than just a Western experience. Students in academic settings and church adult education contexts will benefit from this one-semester survey of Christian history.

Five hundred years ago, Michelangelo began work on a painting that became one of the most famous pieces of art in the world - the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Every year millions of people come to see Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling, which is the largest fresco painting on earth in the holiest of Christianity's chapels; yet there is not one single Christian image in this vast, magnificent artwork.

The Roman Curia is the central body for the administration of the Roman Catholic Church. Its structure and organization is governed by Praedicate Evangelium, a new law issued by Pope Francis in 2022. The nature of the Curia is both confusing to many and vitally important for the administration of the Church and the Vatican.

Although a tiny city- state, the Vatican City boasts many cultural and religious gems in its small boundaries. It’s famous for being the smallest country in the world, at less than 50 hectares, or 120 acres. And its permanent population is less than 1000 people. But it is home to the Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica, ten museums and many lush gardens! And as the world centre of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican is a place of enormous interest to pilgrims and art lovers the world over.

As Cristoforo Colombo sails to discover new lands, his life is thrown into a storm unsuspectingly designed by his enemies; unknown forces lurk behind him as he sails on to the New Indies. His successful discovery and titles as Governor, Admiral, and Viceroy, turn his voyages into a long life of threats. A conspiracy turns against his life when the ambitious Pope Alexander, the Spaniard Borgia, heeding counsel from Nicolo Machiavelli, embarks in a plan to put the New Indies under the power of the papacy. Sunken into poverty when the Spain does not pay his rights over the New Indies, Colombo ...

A mysterious forger. A plot to empty the world’s museums. Can this champion of culture stop it before all our history is fake? A forensic audit at the Vatican Museum reveals looting on a grand scale. A corrupt antiquities dealer has been plundering Europe's institutions—replacing priceless originals with copies. Darwin Lacroix, the Pope’s new Director of Special Archaeological Investigations, is repulsed by self-serving curators, profit-hungry auction houses, and secretive government Freeports. But he cannot stem the loss of artistic heritage. Until a sale goes wrong. When a ...

A Paris icon in flames. A conspiracy in the Church. Can this determined explorer survive the search for a hidden history? Renowned archaeologist Darwin Lacroix remains obsessed, proving his theory that Roman’s used lava tubes. But he’s interrupted by the Pope, who personally requests Darwin’s help to retrieve a codex stolen from the Pontiff’s private vault. Discovering that the cryptic text points to the long-sought Knights Templar treasure, he realizes a mysterious cave may also solve his own puzzle. As he digs up a trail of ancient connections, he’s shocked to learn the true ...

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically acclaimed New York Times best seller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity's future and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.

The enduring influence of the Catholic Church has many sources, but in the first half of the 19th century, the foundations upon which the church had rested were shaken. For many people, liberalism in the guise of liberty, equality, and fraternity was the quintessence of the evils that shook those foundations. At the Vatican Council of 1869-1870, the church made an effort to set things right by defining the doctrine of papal infallibility. Author John W. O'Malley draws us into the bitter controversies over papal infallibility that at one point seemed destined to rend the church in two.

What do you really know about Vatican City? The Vatican, comprising the Apostolic Palace, St. Peter’s Basilica, and various other buildings, serves as the headquarters of the Catholic Church. It has done so for nearly two millennium--ever since the first Pope, St. Peter, made it his home. Thousands of Catholics flock to the Vatican and its iconic basilica each year. But what do you really know about this great basilica and the city that houses it?

In the Closet of the Vatican is a fascinating description and evaluation of financial, sexual and political misconduct throughout the Catholic Church at a time when new revelations are being uncovered each and every week. This audiobook explores the underlying causes and includes interviews with numerous Cardinals and other individuals, some of whom cannot be named. Martel reveals financial scandals in the Vatican bank; political collusion with unsavoury regimes, including Castro’s Cuba and Pinochet’s Chile; sexual abuse and hypocrisy over homosexuality.

FOLLOWING HIS 2017 DEBUT IN 'THE RAIDERS', JED MASON RETURNS IN AN EPIC ACTION-THRILLER QUEST! The Knights Templar. An Ancient Relic. An Epic Quest. Ex-soldier and MI6 operative Jed Mason is on his final mission and looking forward to a new life when he is involved in a car crash with an American scholar in the Lazio countryside. Offering to drive her into Rome, Mason soon learns she is connected to an important Vatican announcement due later that evening, one that will shock the world forever. But minutes into the event, sinister masked terrorists storm the Sistine Chapel and take everyone...

Moved by his mother's death and his Irish Catholic family's complicated history with the church, Timothy Egan decided to follow in the footsteps of centuries of seekers to force a reckoning with his own beliefs. He embarked on a thousand-mile pilgrimage through the theological cradle of Christianity, exploring one of the biggest stories of our time: the collapse of religion in the world that it created. The goal: walking to St. Peter's Square, in hopes of meeting the galvanizing pope who is struggling to hold together the church through the worst crisis in half a millennium.

Sword & Cross is a fearless investigation into the real history of the Catholic Church — a story not of pure faith, but of power, politics, and profit. From the first-century gatherings of frightened disciples to the towering cathedrals of medieval Europe, from the Council of Nicaea to the Vatican Bank, this book traces how Christianity was transformed into one of the most powerful institutions in human history. Scripture itself was shaped and edited to reinforce authority, demand obedience, and secure wealth. Councils and concordats turned theology into policy, while inquisitions and ...

A groundbreaking dive into the role psychedelics have played in the origins of Western civilization, and the real-life quest for the Holy Grail that could shake the Church to its foundations.