What is most remarkable in this collection, is the widespread respect for Pope John Paul II, his intellectualism, and basic agreements with many of his ideas. This collection, continues his effort at ecumenism by bringing together 15 Protestant and 1 Jewish writer, and each sheds new light on the Papal volume. Perhaps due to the ecumenical goal, there is less discussion of differences of faith, which also would have proved useful, such as Phyllis Tickles discussion of Catholic beliefs of purgatory. Particularly moving for me was Rabbi's Eckstein's, Jewish response, first about the history of Church-afflicted spirit, and more recently, the positive changes led by John XXIII and this Pope. Flora Wuellners commentary of prayer, proved enlightening to me in terms of the transformative power of prayer, not as a means of begging for something, but as a means of avoiding fleeing from God. Both this book and the book by John Paul II, discuss fundamental questions of faith, evil and suffering, and may help to deepen your own understanding of Christianity, whether Catholic or Protestant.

Mr. Herman documents a case of western disinformation surrounding the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. He provides a service by documenting the participation of a diverse set of players including Fascists, the CIA and Italian Freemasonry, which has been implicated implicated in the Vatican Bank scandal and the assassination of Pope John Paul I in the book "In God's Name" by David Yallop. Mr Herman drops the ball and, perhaps intentionally, masks larger issues when he tries to promote the notion that the P2 Masonic Lodge's actions were "against the longstanding tradition of Italian Masonry that excluded political discussions." In her book "In Banks We Trust" Penny Lernoux touches on the broad role of Italian Freemasonry as a network used after WWII by Americans, who promoted Fascists to fight Communists. She notes, "Membership in a lodge was reliable evidence of the anticommunism required for a successful career in a NATO military force." The P2 Masonic lodge wasn't an anomaly. It reveals the essential character of organizations like the Masons.

With all the furor concerning "Hitler's Pope" by Cornwell, I wondered how he had obtained access to the expurgated-by-Jebbie files on Pius XII? With some difficulty, Amazon located an out-of-print copy of Cornwell's earlier debunking of the conspiracy theories surrounding the Year of Three Popes, when Papa Luciani, John Paul I, died after a pontificate of only thirty-three days. When I received my virgin copy of "Thief" still sealed in clear plastic, I knew I was in for a treat: The front and back cover blurbs waxed enthusiastic with atta-boys from Graham Greene "The Power and the Glory," Andrew Greeley "The Tablet," and Malachi Martin "The Jesuits." I was not disappointed: Cornwell weaves a tale worthy of G.K. Chesterton "Father Brown." Cornwell's forensic investigation is more compelling than that of Tad Szulc's work of fiction which is also "based on real events, facts, and persons: the attempt to assassinate John Paul II on May 13, 1981, its aftermath, and the secret investigation conducted subsequently at the behest of the Holy See." ["To Kill the Pope" was released in 2000, "Thief in the Night" in 1989.]

This is truly "an exhaustive and impressive study" as Cornwell narrows in on what really happened to the author of "Letters to Pinnochio," which I found most revealing of the Patriarch of Milan. Cornwell gives a most telling picture of Archbishop Paul Casmir "Chink" Marcinkus, the Walter Jenkins/Bebe Rebozo "bagman" of the Vatican Bank, who was able to provide $250 million from the Vatican pension funds to reimburse the machinations of the Calvi/Banco Ambrosiano debacle. Cornwell's in depth portrayals of Papa Luciani's two secretaries, Bishop John Magee and Don Diego Lorenzi and what they did when they found Luciani dead and unattended validates Garry Wills' "Papal Lies" thesis: functionaries in the Vatican lie from force of habit, rather than from malice or personal gain.

Yet there is malice afoot: "[Cardinal/secretary of state Jean] Villot's miscalculation of [Luciani]'s administrative capacities, his poor state of health, was disasterous and surely culpable." Luciani insisted that "he had usurped the papal chair he sat in. 'The Foreign Pope [John Paul II] is coming to take my place.' " And Karol Wojtyla sat opposite Luciani in the Conclave that selected Luciani to follow Montini.

To tell more, would destroy the suspence of Cornwell's story, yet one can say that Luciani was not poisoned, despite centuries of papal murders, that Luciani did not committ suicide, although he certainly lost his will to live, and welcomed death. Whether Luciani abandoned the medicines that would have prolonged his life seems still open.

Based on this "marvelous and compelling investigation" one understands why John Paul II has nothing to fear from the publication of "Hitler's Pope." John Paul II personally made "Thief in the Night" possible, and opened up for Cornwell, the Pandora's box of Pacelli's racism and probable anti-Semitism. John Paul II is to be commended in following John XXIII's dictat: to "open the windows of the Vatican" and let sunlight cleanse Rome of its "Papal Lies" by the Curia-crats who know better how to be a Pope than Pacelli, Roncalli, Montini, Luciani, or Wojtyla, e.g. Tisserant, Ottavani, Villot and Ratzinger.

Though I was only a kid at the time, I still remember John Paul I and what a shock his death after so short a reign caused. How could that smile be allowed to disappear so soon? John Cornwell's book was written largely in response to David Yallop's speculative, but well put together thesis "In God's Name" which argued that John Paul I was murdered. John Cornwll's verdict is equally damning. He gives us some fresh insights into the medical evidence and talks to some interesting people. In the end, though, I wasn't convinced. There is still far too much room for doubt.

A good piece of investigative journalism. Put together very professionally.
But is it the last word about the death of Papa Luciani? Although Cornwell seems to tie a lot of loose ends some lingering doubts are still there.

this book is based on true history. john cornwell, david yallop, morgan witt-gordon went to the vatican to investigate the MURDER of John Paul I and the vatican mafia. Read history of the wordl PLease and do not be blind about the blood history of the catholic church. The blood can not be erased from the aplology of the church. What about the victims. Say sorry is not enough.

This volume, an update of an earlier work by the late Peter Bebblewaite, is little more than an obsolete exercise in wishful thinking by the Catholic radical left. For the book to be at all relevant, it needs to be updated again, to reflect the changes in the College of Cardinals (fairly significant in the last few years). Even such an update would do little to further recommend it, as there are other, more recent and less biased works on the same subject.

Give this one a miss.

The most interesting part of the book for me was the first half where past conclaves in history are discussed. Some of the history is really fascinating. Although the tone of the book optimistically predicts a less severe papacy next time around, there is little evidence presented to back this up. The criticisms of John Paul II, while quite accurate, do little to help us understand who we might expect as the next pope. It is a well written book and very readable, but as time continues to go by and the current pope continues to live, the latter section on potential popes becomes less and less relevant due to the age restriction and deaths. Still, there is enough here to recommend a read.

"The Next Pope", though quite out of date now, is a very good and comprehensive study of the Catholic Church and how Popes are elected, and an attempt to give an idea of who the next Pope will in fact be.

It covers, very well and in quite clear language, a history of the papacy from the time of Pius VIII (1829 to 1830) up to John Paul II's historically crucial letter "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis". Each conclave in that period is discussed very well and with quite reasonable language that I have found very helpful in gaining an understanding of where the papacy has travelled in recent centuries.

The next part of the book looks at John Paull II and explains his thought. It does an easy-to-understand job that could, I feel, give a better understanding of his Polish nature.

The last part written before Peter's death deals with "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis" and the reaction to it, however it fails unfortunately to reach the notes of Ratzinger about the infallibility of the document and to explain in simple, if for many harsh, language what this will mean for the next centuries of the Catholic Church.

Margaret's article is a very detailed (compared to her late husband's) analysis of the College Of Cardinals as it was comprised in 2000.

Though this is now completely out-of-date, contrary to what others have said about Margaret's writings, I find her very balanced in her exceedingly sensible admission that the next Pope can only be just as conservative as Wojtyla. She is very willing to face and accept the fact that many cardinal want an even more conservative papacy in the future, and looks at such cardinals as Dario Castrillon Hoyos and Rouco Vadela as possibilities for the next Pope.

My main criticism of Margaret is that her language is so unclear and that she seem incomplete - it is as if one would need a detailed analysis of those cardinals who nobody, outside or inside the Vatican, would consider as possibilities for the papacy.

Though out of date, this contains some useful information.

I, too, am disappointed in this book and will be returning it. I bought it as a gift thinking it was a collection of the Pope's prayers to God. Instead, I have a found a collection of speeches/papers/instructions to Secular Institutes asking them to "Love the Church" and "Challenge the Young." In the last chapter of the book, there were three actual prayers. Perhaps I allowed the book's title to misguide my expectations. The writing is lovely if you are looking for secular instruction, but don't expect to find the Pope's private prayers.

These are not prayers, but speaches.
You'll need to be very spiritually advanced to listen to them.
Valuable CD's under incorrect title.
I bought this based on an newspaper ad by publisher.

i found the book to be different from other Pope publications. to follow the Pope through out his journey as a great spirtual leader and the head of the vatican. To read his thoughts through out his travels and time as the Popei find to be very interesting and very englightening. i find the lay out of the book to be beautiful...........i'm glad i have it on my shelf and a bought a few for christmas presents.

This is a great book if you're curious about the basics of the life of a particular pontiff, or about papal statistics (i.e., shortest reign, longest reign, dates of reigns, etc.). It is not a history, and does not advertise to be one. It is a reference book from which history can be extracted (there are sections on papal history and the book is divided up into sections or epochs). You can literally pull up the name of a pope and get a glimpse of what his rule was like, as well as the highlights and relevant dates for each pope.

This book was perfect for me, coming from a non-catholic background. Since it does not read like a book laden with catholicism, I wasn't turned away by the language or structure of the book. Not once did I feel the author was trying to proselytize me (something sadly lacking in some other books about the catholic church). What I found was an honest, objective look at the papacy: there have clearly been good and bad popes (some, though very few, have been downright loathsome people), and there have been popes who were incredible men. This book is honest in its appraisal of the men who held the highest earthly order of the catholic church.

There is a slant, and the author hits you in the face with it, but not until the very end of the book. It is not laced throughout the text. Depending upon your perspective, it will either horribly offend you or surprise you with its candor. I personally found it refreshing.

In short, if you're curious about the papacy from a historical perspective, this is a good place to start.

McBrien tries to compress almoat 2,000 years of religious, social and political history into one volume and does a pretty solid job. He gives anywhere from a few paragraphs to a few pages on the over 260 popes throughout history, with the bulk of his text spread out over the popes of the 20th century.

For the most part, McBrien looks at the popes with a scholarly and critical eye, describing how most of the popes throughout history were preoccupied with political and military matters rather than spiritual ones.

However, he does drift from a scholarly, critical examination from time to time. For example, I thought that he was improperly airing out his theological complaints against the current pope in his section on John Paul II (McBrien is theology chairman at Notre Dame), but I enjoyed his passage about the much-beloved pope, John XXIII. (can someone out there recommend any good books on this pope?)

McBrien ends this reference work with some papal facts, like "best and worst" and "firsts and lasts" and has a chronological list, as well as an alphabetical list, of the popes. However, my favorite parts of this book were the introductions to each chronological period of papal history. McBrien gives a general picture of the mood of the day and how each pope dealt with military, political (and sometimes spiritual) issues of the day. He also takes a look at internal church politics and stresses that throughout history, popes were sometimes under control of kings, emperors, powerful families and groups of bishops and clergy.

I've even used this book to settle barroom discussions over popes and in August, 2002, when the press began to ask if Pope John Paul II was going to resign, I referenced this book when people were asking me if other popes have resigned in the past (they did, BTW).

The book is a solid reference if you someone asks you who Pope Eugenius or Sixtus II was, and when they were popes. Since McBrien had 2,000 years of history to cover, it piqued my curiosity to learn more about these fascinating individuals and the times in which they lived.

This book is the most important among my vast library of papal history books because McBrien includes many facts about the popes that I have only been able to find in obscure books. He lets us know who is favorite and least favorite popes are, but that helps to give a more personal approach to this topic, which is refreshing in that most informational (particularly historical) books tend to be so dry. This is an excellent sourcebook for those interested in papal history and can easily be read from cover to cover without the reader ever getting bored with the text. McBrien is an excellent writer and this is by far the most well-written, interesting, and informative books on the subject of popes that is readily available.

I like Tom Clancy and despite its many shortcomings noted by others I could have liked Red Rabbit too. But the incredible factual inaccuracies made me vince.

His geography at times mixes East and West. He makes his Rabbit travel from Moscow to Budapest via Sophia and Belgrade and changes railroad tracks as they cross into Hungary.

His geography and details of Budapest is a mixture of small irrelevant - but correct - details and sheer misinformation. A simple look at any tourist map would have shown him how wrong he is.

How a writer of Clancy's reputation can efford not to have qualified reviewers - for a pittance - is beyond me.

A disappointment that will leave me questioning all details in his books.

RED RABBIT, loosely based on real-world events, revisits Jack Ryan's early CIA days in London, prior to his meteoric rise within the government ranks. He is debriefing KGB defector Oleg Zaitzev, who reveals a high-level Soviet plot to assassinate the Pope. This revelation pits Ryan against political enemies and allies which test his fortitude and put the balance of world power at stake.

True to form, Clancy hands us heavy doses of technical information, evidence of his genius for laborious research. I found this "regurgitation of knowledge" a bit hard to digest, considering that the fast-paced dialogue and relentless action he is known for is all but devoid from this book.

RED RABBIT is a valuable source of information, but can prove to be a formidable challenge, even for the most die-hard Clancy fan. It tends to read more like a 618-page documentary rather than a work of fiction.

I personally liked it but clancy is really getting carried away with the profanity. It suddenly showed up in Bear and the Dragon and it disturbs me. Its as if he cant find a more colorful word to describe the situation.

In Catholic tradition, the Book of the Gospels is a symbol of Christ as Teacher, instructing his Church by his word and example, especially within the liturgical context. As such, the Book of the Gospels was very early seperated from the other books in the Church, and designed and crafted with great care. The designs, artwork and craftsmenship of the book witness to the Church's devotion to Christ's teachings and her veneration of the Word of the Father himself.
This edition uses the revised American Lectionary of 1998. It contains the gospel passages for all Sundays of the year in their three-year cycles, as well as gospels read during solemnities and some special feasts. It also contains the gospel readings for the celebration of various other rites, such as ordination, confirmation, marriage and Christian initiation etc. This makes the Gospel Book useful for all major and solemn celebrations in a community, except Ash Wednesday since it does not contain the gospel passage for that day. This edition is approved by the US Bishops for use in the USA.
This edition of the Gospel Book however stands in stark contrast to the venerable tradition of the Church. The cover design, though potentially excellent, is now stark, being decorated only by a fanciful cross. [According to the publisher, the size of the book fits most ceremonial covers. Maybe that will mask the starkness of this book.] The print is easy-to-read, but there are no pieces of liturgical/religious art in the book. This runs counter to our tradition where words and art both help communicate the Gospel of Christ to all people. The Lectionary published by the same company is better than this Gospel Book and this makes the latter a very disappointing book.
This book is the cheapest of four editions to choose from, from different publishers. But it is so different from the Church's heritage that it would be more worthwhile to save some more money and obtain a better edition of the Book of the Gospels. If one can afford it, the Deluxe edition published by Midwest Theological Forum is the most exquisite and beautiful. This edition features many full-color art pieces, and a cover with Christ the Pantokrator(Teacher). The same publisher also produces a similar Standard edition that is much cheaper [...]; its cover has the four evangelists from the Book of Kells. If not, the edition produced by Liturgy Training Publications works too. This edition features contemporary full-color artwork based on Ethopian Christian styles. All these editions makes use of the revised American Lectionary of 1998, and are all approved by the US bishops. I would obtain this plain edition only as a last resort.

That anyone could take this bit of literary garbage seriously is incredible. It consists wholy of speculation, lies, and propaganda promulgated by small-minded people. Don't waste your time on this rubbish.

It is amazing how some will prostitute the truth to sell a book. Books such as Born in Blood are more accurate speculations of the nature and roots of the Masonic fraternity, which is all that the organization is. What is truely sad is that these falsehoods take on a life of their own. The book was written from ingnorance and has only perpetuated ignorance.

The book should be boot, it is a sinister evilness that try's to hurt and offend a socieity of brotherhood thru the all seeing eye of God.

I wasted my time reading about lies.