Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1002636 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 492 pages

Customer Reviews

Only If You Want to Understand the Papacy
Only to get a real understanding should you read this book. If you want to love all popes as if they were perfect, or hate them all as if they were a blight upon their eras, give this book an extra wide berth. Mr. Coulombe explains at the start his approach: "If we are to be fair with them, the only evaluation we can make of each of them is whether they did well by the Church's own lights. If, in pursuit of this, many have done things that outrage our sensibilities, it should be bourne in mind that our society allows many things that would have done the same for them." One fact that strikes this reader is the threat of violence that hung over most of the popes. It is one thing to have a general notion that the first few centuries were dangerous for anyone holding the Keys of St. Peter. But I, at least, was not prepared for the spectacle, as I read each short (2-3 pages, on average) biography of the popes (with the anti-popes thrown in as a bonus). The overwhelming majority were either killed, or forced to flee Rome to avoid that fate. The worst were very bad indeed, and even the best were constantly thwarted in efforts such as reunion with the Eastern Church. Mr. Coulombe conveys much in a few words. St. Puis X (1903-14) struggled with Modernism. Well, how is Mr. Coulombe to sum up the thought of the pope's adversaries? "Doctrinal formulations are, for the Modernist, not true, per se, but symbolic of some greater truth--whatever that means." Each pope gets a summation--here is a Neapolitan, Paul IV (1555-59): "Due to his economical ways and increasingly morose demeanor, he was not excessively mourned by the Romans." This is a wonderful, and rigorouly honest, book.

The one
This is the one to own if you want to learn about the popes in an objective fashion. If you read between the lines you'll also learn that the Conciliar Church (the "Catholic Church" since Vatican II) is a vastly different institution from it's predecessor, the Roman Catholic Church of history. As St.Athanasius wrote in the 4th century, concerning the Arians, "They may have the buildings but we have the faith." That said, the book is readable by Catholics and non-Catholics alike and is one that can be reads in bytes. One also comes to the conclusion that the history of western civilization is inseparable from that of the Church.

"To escape the gates of hell."
What Harry Crocker achieved for general Church history with his zesty "Triumph: the Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church," Charles A. Coulombe has done for papal history with his "Vicars of Christ."

In 440 pages, he takes the interested reader through a series of fascinating biographies of the men who have sat on the throne of Peter. From brief sketches to essay-length discussions, Coulombe is equally at ease describing the sack of Constantinople under Urban II to the disintegration of much of the post-conciliar Church under the sadly hapless Paul VI.

Coulombe has a knack for presenting a memorable anecdote to make a point. For instance, have you ever wondered why the churches and cathedrals of France escaped the wreck-o-vations that have laid waste to so much architectural splendor in the U.S. since the 1960s? It isn't due to the preservationist instincts of the French. In 1905, the rabidly secular French government broke its concordat with Rome and nationalized church property. So when French priests succumbed to the prevailing horizontal zeitgeist of the disastrous sixties, the left-leaning, anti-clerical government refused to renovate the buildings -- now government property -- more or less out of spite.

The Modernism so pervasive during the past century suffers a withering critique from Coulombe's pen. In his chapter on Pius X (1903 - 1914) he describes Modernism as "the notion that not only the Church's government and practices (as Liberals and Americanists believed) but her very doctrines had to evolve along with the ever-upward movement of mankind toward the great wonderful future." He continues: "[d]octrinal formulations are, for the Modernist, not true, per se, but symbolic of some greater truth -- whatever that means. Thus from Transubstantiation to the Trinity, the Church's teaching, while doubtless literally understood by those who first formulated them, are simply stages in human consciousness, and are not to be taken literally." Coulombe could be describing the beliefs held by faculty members of the theology departments of most major Catholic universities, not to mention the dissident who leads your parish faith formation program.

His book went to press in 2003 when John Paul II was "enfeebled." Nonetheless, Coulombe accurately describes the difficult task faced by Benedict XVI. "The neo-Catholicism of such as Rahner is dominant in much of the Catholic world" and will need to be confronted, resulting in either a "break" or reintegration. He describes the current state of the Protestant "revolt" as "dissolving into a bland Unitarianism" but with a more orthodox wing that could be reconciled to the Church. Moreover, "future popes," Benedict included, must realize "that they exist to assist the individual Catholic to escape the gates of hell." Truer words are rarely written.

Readers should be aware that "Vicars of Christ" was recently reissued under the imprint of Barnes & Noble and renamed "A History of the Popes" (with the original, less bland title serving as a subtitle.) Order it online or pick up the new version for $10 in the bargain aisle of your local B&N store.