A brilliant, lively, meticulously-researched history that pulls no punches in its assessments of the modern Catholic church. This is required reading for anyone interested in the church's authoritarian past, and the lessons it must learn in order to reform.

Lady Antonia Fraser

A frank, sometimes disturbing portrait of the Catholic Church's difficult voyage through the 20th century – humanity's godless nadir.

Paul Lay, Author of Providence Lost: the Rise and Fall of Cromwell's Protectorate

A searing critique from the inside ... [Caiani's] cautionary words regarding the church's cosying up to political power for its own, sometimes myopic, ends are salutary and chillingly current

Irish Independent

'Impeccable, fair minded [...] Unlike many books that deal with these issues, Caiani writes more in sorrow than in anger'

Irish Times