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The leading Catholic commentator and historian Michael Walsh throws open the mysterious and secretive world of the Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. They are Catholicism's 'nearly men' who never became Pope but who have been the power behind the papal throne throughout the ages. This eminently readable and often entertaining account tells the stories of some 200 outstanding (for all kinds of reasons) cardinals from the beginnings of the office in the 8th century, through the Middle Ages when cardinals ranked with royal princes, to more recent distinguished wearers of the red cap - among them the greatly missed Basil Hume and Joseph Bernadin. Here we meet the kingmaker cardinals, the politically ambitious, the saintly, the venial, the scholarly, the pastors, and the cardinals with wives and children.
The startling changes that have taken place within the Catholic Church since World War II were the direct accomplishments of Pius XII and his successors. These modern popes, however, formed their policies and wrought these changes based on the work of four transitional popes who preceded them: Leo XIII (1878-1903), who re-established a direct link between the papacy and the lay communicant; Pius X (1903-1914), who was a conservative reactionary; and Benedict XV (1914-1922) and Pius XI (1922-1939), who revived and extended Leo's efforts to modernize the Church and its policies. Based largely on unpublished or ephemeral materials, Papal Elections in the Age of Transition recounts the stories of how these four men rose to the papal throne, including previously unpublished details of the conclaves. This fascinating narrative sheds new light on the rise to power of the popes who prepared the way for the Catholic Church at the dawn of the twenty-first century.
The classic reference work that provides annually updated information on the countries of the world.
The classic reference work that provides annually updated information on the countries of the world.