Dimensions
162 x 241 x 27mm
This is the story of a revolution in the world's oldest and biggest institution. Close to a billion people of every class, colour and political creed owe allegiance to Rome. Drawing on interviews with Catholics at every level, from prelates in the Vatican to the poor in the barrios of Brazil, Edward Stourton tells the story of their Church since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. It is a story of high politics and great intellectual struggle, covering the ideological battle with Communism and the shift of the Church's heart to the developing world. It is also a story of intense personal passions, touching everything from sex to man's relationship with God. Edward Stourton's important and definitive book argues that the Council gave Catholicism the energy and ideas to meet the challenges of the modern world, but also unleashed powerful forces which could tear the Church apart in its third millennium.
