This book is very well researched and written in a manner all lovers of Roman renaissance history, art and architecture will find rewarding. The author finds within the art and architecture of Rome new details and subtleties which often seem lost in the grand depictions of this highly researshed subject. The book contains excellent reproductions of the art - especially the Sistine Chaple and the Alter pieces, a very useful map and a chronological table toward the end which is valuable for quick reference. My only negetive criticism of this fine book would be concerning the history of the earlier buildings which existed before the grand palazzos were erected. For example, I have a sub-passion for the history of the Piazza del Campidoglio (Capitoline). I know the present Palazzo del Senatore was formerly a palace or large building constructed over the Tabularium built by Lucius Cornelius Sulla. I was looking for more information explaining Michelangelo's planning and vision (which he accomplished) for this important site. This very well may have been outside the author's parameter but I am looking for a detailed discussion of the layers of history around the buildings of the Capitol. Nonetheless, I loved this book and will often refer to it and bring it with me on my next trip to the Eternal City.

An interesting account of Freemasonry from an 'outsiders' view. He noted that many 'outsiders' would not publish works on the subject for fear of offending or causing resentment among the Freemasons. Despite this, Knight gives insight into the origins and fundamental points of Freemasonry and the process of recruitment and initiation into the explored. He also examines the power and influence in politics and the religious beliefs. Index I of this study includes Information For Candidates (from The Universal Book of Craft Masonry) with suggested readings and Masonic periodicals. Purporting to expose the 'evils' of Masonry primarily in the United Kingdom, this book (written in the early 1980s and, as the author states, in a very short time) seeks to further incite the public as a follow-up to his prior work which claimed that Jack the Ripper was a Mason!

Mr. Knight weaves a tale from his imagination using any 'unnamed sources' whom he claims were at the highest levels of Freemasonry. One such example is a "West End Mason". Ironically, that person - whom, like all of his sources, Knight claims needed anonymity, has identified himself online as being James Todd who publishes an online rant aptly called "VOMIT" ('Victims of Masonic Ill-Treatment'). Todd, curiously, was never an English Mason but rather joined in Scotland and was a member there for a short period. He claims that he was forced to join the organization and, clearly, hated it. Suffice it to say, no one is forced to join Freemasonry (particularly in Scotland) and Todd's attitudes and age (not to mention his abiding hatred for politicians and police) are hardly conducive to an honest presentation. You can read all about Mr. Todd's anti-Masonic and anti-Semitic rants right here. Using sources such as this to support his work puts Mr. Knight on a very shaky foundation indeed.

From the Southern Baptist Convention's Study on Freemasonry we learn that Knight rejected the Christian faith, became a Sannyasin (a religious belief we've found precious little about), and changed his name to Swami Puja Deval in 1983. He died of a (proven) brain tumor in 1985 but anti-Masons enjoy hinting that he was somehow murdered to silence him. (The claim of Masonic actions against those who speak against Freemasonry is easily disproven by the continued lives of other anti-Masonic authors - as well as the death of Masonic authors and historians!)

Even today, UK politicians looking for a 'hook' on which to garner favor will use this book as their crutch. Imagined and/or phony characters painted to look their worst so the author could sell yet another book and appeal to people's fears, this one succeeded and now is the false basis for many anti-Masonic rants.

This summary of the 21 general councils recognized by the Roman Catholic Church demonstrates the value, and some of the limitations, of an historical overview. By focusing on the basic facts and immediate contexts of the councils, Christopher Bellitto enables the reader to discern the broad patterns that are intrinsic to conciliar history. Because the time period in review is virtually two millennia, however, some detail is necessarily sacrificed (though greater attention is paid to the more recent convocations -- Trent, Vatican I and II).

Reading this book one learns that general councils are called irregularly to address pressing doctrinal controversies and disciplinary problems, that the authority of the Pope in relation to the councils has long been an issue, and that, perhaps most interestingly, conciliar decrees often have a prophetic function. Time and again, sometimes after a series of only partial successes, the councils have prepared the Church to survive and even thrive in a new historical epoch.

Readers wanting more detailed discussions of the personalities, politics, and theological infighting of the councils will need to pursue further study. Nevertheless, as an introduction to this very public part of the Church's history, and as a preamble to understanding contemporary ecclesiastical developments, The General Councils is a good place to start.

With that clarity of mind which is so typical of his other books, and that painstaking willingness to go around the block as many times as it requires for his message to be understood, Michael Davies has achieved another admirable survey of "the desolate city" -- and of the lunacies which "obedience" is said to justify. Davies' accounts of ecclesial cowardice acquire an extra retrospective edge in view of post-conciliar Catholicism's recent sex scandals.

For some reason, there is a belief shared by both conservatives and liberals, that the Roman Catholic Church is a reactionary institution, intent on squelching all dissent. John Paul II is represented as an extreme reactionary who advances Catholicism in its most traditional form.

Yet what isn't so well known, is that the Roman Catholic Church underwent a cataclysmic event in the 60s: the Second Vatican Council. Although initiated to update the church in the "modern world" it was taken over by the left. One of the leaders at Vatican was John Paul II. While no one denies that there have been dramatic changes since Vatican II, Woods and Ferrara argue that these changes were a direct result of the novelties introduced by Vatican II.

Woods and Ferrara outline the changes since then and show that many have little basis in pre-Vatican II teaching. As a few examples, John Paul II opposes the death penalty, doesn't know if there is anyone in hell, supports evolution, permits altar girls and women serving communion, supports the UN, and holds ecumenical confabs that welcome Voodoo priests. Some reactionary. As our authors point out, had anyone other than John Paul II does these things, he wouldn't be considered much of a conservative. Yet when John Paul does these things, the "neo-Catholics" feel obligated to support him.

Not only is John Paul II something of a progressive, but also what he permits is even more shocking. For example, John Paul named Walter Kasper a bishop and then a cardinal, even though Kasper doesn't even believe that Jesus performed the "nature miracles" of the Scripture, or raised anyone from the dead. [Kasper, JESUS THE CHRIST p. 90.] Even supposed champions of orthodoxy such as Cardinal O'Connor were leftists compared to pre-Vatican II Catholicism.

This book has a few flaws. It started out as a collection of articles and it could have been edited a bit better. Some of the language will strike non-Catholics as a little overblown. Nonetheless, it is one of the more eye-opening books that one could read.

Here's factual research on Nazi espionage against the Vatican, but little insight about true collaboration between Vatican officials, including Pope Pius XII, and Nazi secret police. Interesting insights into how Hitler's agents worked at cross purposes. They did break Vatican radio codes early in the war. Nothing here will directly implicate the Vatican's policies regarding ultimate sympathy with Nazism.

This is a good basic work on the topic for the educated beginner. It's historical and, while not hostile to the Christian Churches, the author is willing to point out the failings in the Christian Churches' attempts to refor. Also useful is the author's discussion about how reform has meant different things at different times. It's also a great source of other important works on the topics discussed in the book.

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.

Neither a work of fiction nor a run of the mill spy novel, Bokun's book, taken from his diaries, is a true story of survival in Mussolini's Rome during the holocaust years. Bokun managed to use his cover position as a staff member in the Rome Red Cross office as a small, but important stop in a 20th century underground railroad, finding hiding places for fugitives from fascism, and helping them to escape to either rejoin resistance movements or to freedom., all this at significant risk to his own life,

SPY IN THE VATICAN opens in Yugoslavia, shortly after the April, 1941 German invasion and immediately after the first of many horrible massacres of Serbs, Gypsies and Jews by the Ustashi. The Ustashis were a band of fanatic Croatian Fascists who chose Catholic fanaticism as the mainstay of their policy. Since the Ustashi had the backing of the clergy, there was a widespread belief that, if the Vatican would speak out against these massacres, they would come to a halt.

Bokun, the author of this book, was sent to Rome by the Red Cross to attempt to persuade the Vatican to speak out. One of the threads which weaves it way through the book is Bokun's attempts to get either Pope Pius XII or some other high ranking Vatican official to make such a statement. Throughout the war years, the Vatican refused to even acknowledge the existence of the massacres. One of Bokun's acquaintances asked the rhetorical question, "What is your opinion of the Vatican's silence on the subject of the Jewish persecutions?" He then answered his own question, "How extraordinary that you find that surprising. The Church was founded on silence."

Another acquaintance reminded him that this refusal to tender aid extended far beyond the Church, giving as an example the response of The United States during the early years of Hitler's rise to power when America was offered the opportunity to provide refuge to 20,000 Jewish children. A few Jewish Welfare organizations petitioned the U. S. Senate on behalf of the children. Over 4,000 families offered to adopt the children. However, a Gallup Poll published in FORTUNE MAGAZINE showed that eighty-three percent of Americans were against any increase in immigration limits, particularly if the immigrants were European Jews. The official Washington response was to tell the welfare organizations to look elsewhere. One can only assume that the majority of these children perished.

In spite of the risks involved, and the lack of any cooperationfrom the fascist or puppet governments in Spain and France, through which the fugitives had to pass on their route to freedom, Bokun and his allies continued to have small successes throughout the war years, either hiding fugitives in Rome or getting them out using numerous subterfuges.

Eventually Bokun had to engineer his own escape. Escape from the wartime fascists, and what turned out to be more difficult, from the actions and attitudes of the bureaucrats after the cessation of hostilities. The end of the book found a weary, fatigued, and disillusioned Bokun living in a third rate hotel in 1946 Paris. He got no assistance from the American, French, English, and Canadian Agencies set up to specifically provide assistance. Assistance, he discovered, had to be bought one way or another. Survive he did, however, and went on to become a successful author and journalist.

A SPY IN THE VATICAN once again provides proof that "truth, well told, is stranger than fiction."

The Rev. Robert A. Graham, S.J., author, former editor at America magazine and co-editor of the 11 volumes of the Vatican's wartime documents, Actes et documents du Saint Siege relatifs a la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, published this book shortly before his death. Several of the chapters are partial or complete translations of articles that Graham published in the Vatican journal. La Civilta Cattolica over the decades. Graham's sole purpose is to show Communist propaganda and Marxist interpretations of history are primarily responsible for allegations that the Pope supported the Nazis during World War II. Perhaps the most important article of faith in the creed of Vatican critics is that the Pope so feared Communist expansion into Europe that he was willing to turn a blind eye to the crimes of Nazism, so Hitler's troops could destroy the Soviet Union for him. In short, we are told that Pius XII saw the Nazis as a "bulwark" against the Soviets. To the leftist mind and those who conditioned to hate the Catholic Church, this line sounds both reasonable and probable. Fr. Graham shows how this theory doesn't hold water. He notes that both sides eagerly awaited the Pope's first public speech after Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Would he give any words of encouragement to the Nazis? The New York Times correspondent Herbert Matthews carefully scrutinized the speech and concluded that the Pope said nothing that could be interpreted as support for the invasion. The Vatican's silence in this matter outraged the Nazis and Fascists. In September 1941, Dr. Bernardo Attolico, Italy's Ambassador to the Vatican, personally lobbied the Pope and his deputy, Msgr. Domenico Tardini to back the invasion or, at least, repeat a public condemnation of Communist doctrines. Attolico sent an account of his meeting with the Pope to the German Foreign Ministry. "But if I should talk of Bolshevism, and I would be fully prepared to do so," the Holy Father said to Attolico, "should I say nothing of Nazism? The situation in Germany . . . has become infinitely worse since my own departure from Berlin." In the same month, President Franklin Roosevelt sent Myron Taylor, his personal representative to Pius XII, to the Vatican. Roosevelt wanted to extend military aid, through the Lend Lease program, to the Soviet Union, so it could have the strength to beat back the Nazis. However, the President's efforts were being successfully frustrated by many Catholics. Graham writes that Roosevelt wanted the Pius XII to tell Catholics in the United States that they could support the extension of Lend Lease to the Soviets. Roosevelt believed that there was a difference between helping Communism and helping the Russian people, who were the innocent victims of Nazi aggression. Surprisingly, the Pope agreed. Msgr. Tardini sent secret instructions to Msgr. Amleto Cicognani, the apostolic delegate in the United States, telling him about the difference between helping Communism and the Russian people. In turn, Cicognani consulted with the Archbishop of Detroit and the head of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. They then recruited Archbishop John McNicholas of Cincinnatti, who gave a well publicized speech saying that Catholics could endorse the President's plans. After that, Catholic opposition to extending Lend Lease to the Soviets soon vanished - thanks to the intervention of Pope Pius XII (recently condemned as "Hitler's Pope"). You won't find this episode discussed in books written by papal critics such as Friedlander, Carlo Falconi, Michael Phayer, Susan Zuccotti and John Cornwell? Why? Because it blows a huge hole in their preconceived theories. If the Pope wanted the Nazis to destroy the Soviet Union for him, then wouldn't he have refused Roosevelt's request? Perhaps as the war progressed and Germany was pushed back, Pius XII began to have second thoughts? According to Graham, the Pope granted an audience to Hungarian Premier Nicholas Kallay in April 1943. In his both his report to the Hungarian government and his memoirs, Kallay quoted the Pope as condemning the Nazi persecution of the Jews, saying that the Nazis were far worse than the Communists and that a Nazi victory would mean the end of Christianity in Europe. The month before, the Vatican sent a long letter to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop protesting the Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland. Graham writes that the note was so strong that the Pope expected the Nazis to cut off diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Graham devotes a chapter to Germany's Ambassador to the Vatican, Ernst von Weiszacker. From mid-1943 until the near end of the war, Weiszacker sent at least nine dispatches to the German Foreign Ministry reporting that the Pope was so frightened by Communism that he was wishing for a Nazi victory in the East. Authors such as Friedlander accept these reports at face value. Graham convincingly shows that Weiszacker was playing to a propaganda campaign orchestrated by Dr. Joseph Goebbles, the German Minister of Propaganda. To divide the Allies and win the support of neutral nations, Goebbels portrayed Nazi Germany as the savior of Europe from Joseph Stalin. Weiszacker was trying to induce Germany to use the Vatican as intermediary to negotiate a peace agreement with the Western Allies in an attempt to save his nation from defeat. The Nazis never took this seriously. They always considered the Vatican an enemy. Graham observes that in none of Weiszacker's dispatches were any direct words from the Pope expressing hope for a Nazi victory in the East. His reports show that he often got his information from second and third hand sources - hardly conclusive evidence of Vatican attitudes. Other chapters in The Vatican and Communism, including the Nazis' seizures over a papal speech on the Fatima prophecies, are also illuminating and add to the historical record. I hesitate to give this book five stars because it lacks precise citations. By contrast, Graham's articles in La Civilta Cattolica and other books are solidly documented. Nevertheless, The Vatican and Communism is an excellent book, written by a great scholar.