Book description
The Vatican Diaries is an inside look at one of the world's
most powerful and mysterious institutions, by John Thavis.
'A humane and realistic and (yes) humorous picture of a mortal
institution. To an old Prot like me, it's a tour of alien terrain and
a bridge to old and dear friends' Garrison Keillor
For thirty years John Thavis worked for the Catholic News Service in
Rome and reported on the inner workings of the Vatican. The Vatican
Diaries is his insightful and often very funny account of
exactly what goes on in this unique and secretive institution. It's a
place where cardinals fight private wars, scandals are constantly
threatening to undermine papal authority, and reverence for the past
comes up painfully against the considerations of modern life.
He describes the politics surrounding the election of a new pope and
the beatification of an old one, the angst of dealing with the
international issue of sexual abuse, the intricacies of arranging a
Papal visit to India, the conflicts involved in trying to build a car
park over an ancient Roman burial site - and above all the
unfathomable personality of the conservative Pope Benedict XVI, the
first pope to resign for 600 years. At this extraordinary moment of
crisis in the Church, Thavis's account of its inner workings is invaluable.
'One closes John Thavis' perceptive study reflecting on the
Vatican's challenge: to persist in a secularizing world sometimes
fascinated by the pomp and pageantry of St. Peter's-but often hostile
or increasingly indifferent to the Church's determined mission to
harmonize warring factions and bickering enemies, even if both are on
the same Catholic side' New York Journal of Books
John Thavis recently retired as the prizewinning chief of the Rome
bureau of Catholic News Service, where he had covered the Vatican
since 1983. He is the past president of the International Association
of Journalists Accredited to the Vatican, and in 2007 the Catholic
Press Association awarded him the Saint Francis de Sales Award, the
highest honour given by the Catholic press. He divides his time
between Minnesota and Rome.
John Thavis recently retired as the prizewinning chief of the Rome
bureau of Catholic News Service, where he had covered the Vatican since
1983. He is the past president of the International Association of
Journalists Accredited to the Vatican, and in 2007 the Catholic Press
Association awarded him the Saint Francis de Sales Award, the highest
honour given by the Catholic press. He divides his time between
Minnesota and Rome.
