I found this less gripping than the other Duffy works I have read, and at times it seemed that Duffy the Catholic and Duffy the historian had come to awkward compromises. There were certain details of history that I expected, but did not find.

That said, it is really an amazing feat to include the whole history of the popes into a single readable volume. I certainly recommend reading this book, but it is not the last word on the subject.

I read the 2014 fourth edition. ( )

It has been said that the Church thinks in terms of centuries and that we may still be in its early days even though that Friday afternoon when the world turned on its Savior seems so long ago. In those 2000 years, 266 (sometimes very) flawed men have been pope. It's a lot to cover in 500 pages, but Eamon Duffy does so masterfully in his fourth edition of his history of the papacy, Saints and Sinners.

A book review, at minimum, should tell whether a book is worth reading. So often a reviewer spends time making common cause with or combatting the the author's arguments that no mention is made of whether the book is well written, well organized, enjoyable, and worth a share of a reader's limited time. Saints and Sinners is all of those.

While the author and this reviewer are Catholic, one need not be a Catholic to enjoy this book. An interest in Western history will suffice as there is certainly no single office which has had such a consistent role in its shaping for so long a time. And the papacy, as an office, and the men who have held it, is what this book is about. Church doctrine and general Church history are not its subjects unless directly affecting the office. One example: the Crusades are barely mentioned other than how only a strong papacy could have willed them into existence in a fractious Europe.

For 2000 years, the men to whom Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom, have striven to perpetuate his Church from age to age. From its earliest days they believed a unity was required - a unity rooted in a successor to Peter at the head of Christ's one Church. A cynic might see in this simply a desire for power. Power against deviants from orthodoxy. And temporal power while awaiting Christ's return. And there is no doubt truth in both of those assertions. But the mission of the Church, from the time of Pentecost, has been to ensure people's eternal souls ultimately end up where they belong: in heaven with their Creator. What may appear as a lust for power can also reasonably be seen as fallen men doing as they see fit to create the most visible, straight path back to Heaven. To the 266 popes, that path is through the Catholic Church.

That is not to say there have not been some reprehensible men elected Pontiff. And a whitewash this is not. Constantine's Edict of Milan, legalizing Christianity in the Roman Empire, was a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that it opened the gates to the Church and is no doubt one of the key reasons that Christianity became the dominant faith of Europe. A curse in that it began the intertwining of the Church and politics. And where politics are involved, corruption, greed, and every other vice are not far behind. While the days of European monarchs wielding great authority in papal elections was long over, some still had a veto authority as late as the 1910s. Of course, it cuts both ways: for centuries the popes were kingmakers in whichever European kingdoms were currently under its sway. This unfortunate, and probably inevitable, commingling gave rise to the worst periods of the papacy culminating in the some of history's more notorious characters such as the Alexander VI.

The wave of 19th century political upheaval, and Napoleon specifically, were death knells to the Church's temporal power. And all for the good. Though popes like Leo XIII (1878-1903) and his immediate successors fought it, the breaking of the papal influence on temporal power (including the loss of the Papal States) was the greatest thing to ever happen to the Church. It paved the way for popes exclusively dedicated to its mission without having to operate within the confines of conflicting agreements with different countries, some of which could exert inordinate amounts of influence on the Church's leadership, ability to evangelize, and revenue collection. I do not think it's going to0 far to say that without Napoleon it would be hard to imagine St. John Paul the Great, Benedict XVI, and Francis I becoming pope. The qualifications for election would still have been too concerned with temporal matters when these men were the right age.

2000 years. 266 saints and sinners. All have been both. Some more one than the other. But David had Uriah killed so he could take his wife, Bathsheba. And still he wrote the Psalms. Peter denied even knowing Jesus three times in a span of hours after having walked on water with him. And still he was crucified in Rome after having established his Lord's Church there. God works through men; that is to say sinners. And He does so in the hope that we shall all stumble home and be saints with him in Paradise. However circuitous the route. ( )

Good balanced overview of the papacy told in an interesting and coherent manner. ( )

Pretty well written, really picks up steam the closer it gets to the present- although maybe that's just because I knew less about the more recent history. You won't pick up any ammunition for witch-hunts, but that's okay. Sometimes the best approach is to give everyone the benefit of the doubt until you've seen what everyone is doing, and then judging. Read this, you'll know what almost all the popes did, and you can judge them on your own- Duffy refrains. ( )

‘Society is sick... the one hope, the one remedy, is the Pope.’ PIUS X

For almost 2,000 years, the papacy has been among the most influential forces in world history. Popes have created emperors and deposed monarchs, divided the spoils of conquest and plunged nations into war. A living link between the age of the New Testament and the 21st century, today’s Holy Father commands the spiritual allegiance of more than a fifth of the world’s population and attracts greater crowds than presidents and pop stars.

In Saints and Sinners the distinguished historian Eamon Duffy traces the tumultuous processes by which a humble fisherman from Galilee became the foundation and first figurehead of a prodigious institution that has challenged the authority of the mightiest rulers and states, and reached to the heart of culture and society in every era. Duffy follows the story of the papacy from the dying days of the Roman Empire to modern times.

Among the 262 extraordinary men who have led the Catholic Church we encounter the pious and pragmatic Gregory the Great, who initiated the evangelisation of Anglo-Saxon England; Alexander VI, the notorious Borgia Pope; Leo X, whose efforts to fund the rebuilding of St Peter’s Basilica precipitated the Reformation; Pius XII, diplomat extraordinaire of the Second WorldWar; and John Paul II, whose uncompromisingly traditionalist principles were no barrier to his status as the most popular pope ever.

Our edition of Saints and Sinners uses the most up-to-date version of the text published in 2006. Regarded by critics as the finest single-volume account of the papacy available, this is a historical tour de force – and a magnificent portrait of one of the most powerful and ancient institutions in the world.

‘Everything good, popular history ought to be’
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH