Absolute Power: How the Pope Became the Most Influential Man in the World

Paul Collins

ISBN 10: 1610398602 / ISBN 13: 9781610398602

Published by PublicAffairs, New York, USA, 2018

About this Item

213 pages. Excellent condition. The first page is signed by Paul Collins. Books listed here are not stored at the shop. Please contact us if you want to pick up a book from Newtown.

Seller Inventory # 169521

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Absolute Power: How the Pope Became the Most Influential Man in the World
• Publisher: PublicAffairs, New York, USA
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1610398602
• ISBN 13: 9781610398602
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Signed by Author
• Seller catalogs:
  • Religion - Christianity, Catholic, Protestant

About this title

Synopsis

The sensational story of the last two centuries of the papacy, its most influential pontiffs, troubling doctrines, and rise in global authority

In 1799, the papacy was at rock bottom: The Papal States had been swept away and Rome seized by the revolutionary French armies. With cardinals scattered across Europe and the next papal election uncertain, even if Catholicism survived, it seemed the papacy was finished.
In this gripping narrative of religious and political history, Paul Collins tells the improbable success story of the last 220 years of the papacy, from the unexalted death of Pope Pius VI in 1799 to the celebrity of Pope Francis today. In a strange contradiction, as the papacy has lost its physical power -- its armies and states -- and remained stubbornly opposed to the currents of social and scientific consensus, it has only increased its influence and political authority in the world.

About the Author

Paul Collins is a historian and broadcaster with degrees from Harvard and the Australian National University. He has worked as a religious commentator for Australian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, PBS, and more; as a teacher of theology and history; and as a Catholic priest. In March 2001, he resigned from active ministry due to a doctrinal dispute with the Vatican over his book, Papal Power. He is also the author of The Birth of the West, published by PublicAffairs in 2013.