Overview

The history of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century is one of spies, scandals and bad political choices. It’s a shadowy, ornate world of cover-ups and hidden motives. In this book, Ambrogio Caiani lifts back the heavy velvet curtains of the chancel and peers behind the locked mahogany doors of the Vatican to reveal the shocking truths that make up a century of Catholic corruption. For many, Catholicism’s flirtation with evil has become impossible to ignore: a pope courting Nazi officials and, horribly, turning a blind eye to the Holocaust; the Vatican becoming embroiled in a series of dodgy financial dealings; the child abuse continuously perpetrated by members of the clergy. Time and time again, Catholic figures have made terrible choices in private and preached in public about goodness and morality. This is the first history that focuses exclusively on Catholicism throughout the twentieth century, sketching not only scandalous stories of corruption but also lively portrayals of Catholicism’s key characters – from a beret-clad communist revolutionary priest to the bizarre morning routine of the pope who followed a daily cold bath with dry unbuttered toast. Caiani, a critical Catholic himself, takes a frank and sceptical look at the trajectory of global Catholicism and wrestles with vital questions about the future of the church. Taking in the wider socio-political contexts of a world at war and the accumulating momentum of social progress, this brilliant history traces the evolution of the Catholic church alongside the development of our modern society right up to the election of Pope Leo XIV in 2025.

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9781800240513

Table of Contents

Reviews

A brilliant, lively, meticulously-researched history that pulls no punches in its assessments of the modern Catholic church. This is required reading for anyone interested in the church’s authoritarian past, and the lessons it must learn in order to reform. * Lady Antonia Fraser * A frank, sometimes disturbing portrait of the Catholic Church’s difficult voyage through the 20th century – humanity’s godless nadir. * Paul Lay, Author of Providence Lost: the Rise and Fall of Cromwell’s Protectorate * A searing critique from the inside ... [Caiani's] cautionary words regarding the church's cosying up to political power for its own, sometimes myopic, ends are salutary and chillingly current * Irish Independent *

A brilliant, lively, meticulously-researched history that pulls no punches in its assessments of the modern Catholic church. This is required reading for anyone interested in the church’s authoritarian past, and the lessons it must learn in order to reform. * Lady Antonia Fraser *

A brilliant, lively, meticulously-researched history that pulls no punches in its assessments of the modern Catholic church. This is required reading for anyone interested in the church’s authoritarian past, and the lessons it must learn in order to reform. * Lady Antonia Fraser * ‘A frank, sometimes disturbing portrait of the Catholic Church’s difficult voyage through the 20th century – humanity’s godless nadir.’ * Paul Lay, Author of Providence Lost: the Rise and Fall of Cromwell’s Protectorate *

Author Information

Ambrogio Caiani is a distinguished historian and author of Losing a Kingdom, Gaining a World. His other work includes To Kidnap a Pope and Louis XVI and the French Revolution. He is also a passionate liberal Catholic who wishes to modernize the Church. He teaches at the University of Kent and lives in London.

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