The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-The-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities, and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church, Paperback

The New York Times-bestselling inside look at one of the world's most powerful and mysterious institutions

For 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 sexual abuse scandals threaten to undermine papal authority. Thavis (author of The Vatican Prophecies: Investigating Supernatural Signs, Apparitions, and Miracles in the Modern Age) also takes readers through the politicking behind the election of Pope Francis and what we might expect from his papacy. The Vatican Diaries is a perceptive, compelling, and provocative account of this singular institution and will be of interest to anyone intrigued by the challenges faced by religion in an increasingly secularized world.

About the Author:

John Thavis recently retired as the prizewinning chief of the Rome bureau of the Catholic News Service, where he had covered the Vatican since 1983. He divides his time between Minnesota and Rome. The Vatican Diaries is his first book.