A fascinating and enlightening look at the world’s oldest and most mysterious institution, written by an American journalist with unparalleled knowledge about the Vatican's past and present.
The sexual abuse scandals that shook American and British Catholicism in 2002 brought to light a long-standing cultural gap between the English-speaking Catholic world and the Vatican. In Rome, the crisis was often seen as an attack on the Church mounted by money-hungry lawyers, a hostile press, and liberal activists who used it as a way to turn attention on such concerns as celibacy, women’s ordination, and lay empowerment. When the Vatican struck down the U.S. bishops’ draft for handling allegations of sexual abuse, many saw it as an attempt to curb an independent American Catholic church. Yet, as time passed, it became clear that the Vatican’s well-founded concerns about due process were shared by most liberal U.S. bishops and canon lawyers.  

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Doubleday Religion; 1st edition (July 13, 2004)
Author : John C. Allen, Jr
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 392 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385509669
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385509664
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.37 x 1.11 x 9.47 inches