The Popes : " 50 Celebrated Occupants Of The Throne of St Peter " : Book

The papacy is as old as the Christian Church itself, and a crucial influence on the political history of medieval and modern Europe. Pope Leo III's coronation of Charlemagne established the first real imperial power in the West since the fall of Rome and created the model for what would become the Holy Roman Empire; Pope Gregory VII's dispute with the German Emperor over the appointment of church officials exerted a huge influence on the course of medieval German history; the preaching of Pope Urban II led to the First Crusade and centuries of war between the Christian West and Islam; in the 20th century Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Italy, establishing the Vatican City as a sovereign state. And even today, the Roman Catholic Church's teaching - as expressed through papal pronouncements on matters as diverse as abortion, contraception, terrorism and the problem of global poverty - continues to impact on the lives of billions of people around the world. The 256 occupants of the throne of St Peter have included saints, visionaries, voluptuaries, rogues and cowards; papal lives have embraced a moral spectrum from priestly abstinence and rectitude to worldly excess and depravity. The history and mystique of the papacy exerts a profound fascination for Christians and non-Christians alike. The Popes contains 50 lively biographical essays profiling the greatest occupants of the throne of St Peter, from St Peter himself to John Paul II. Each papal life dovetails with the next, creating an integrated overview of some 2000 years of papal history. The essays can be read as self-contained portraits of individual papal lives, or as a larger narrative chronicling the history of the most important institution of the Christian Church. The Popes is a richly rewarding introduction to an engrossing subject.Read More