All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Works

Inside the Vatican

Guide Rating -

The Vatican in Rome can be described as the world's oldest and most mysterious institution. What really goes on behind its walls? How are decisions which affect over a billion Catholics arrived at? What motivates the people who work there - power? Greed? Duty? Few people are qualified to answer such questions because few really know enough to even try.

Summary

Title: All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks.
Author: John L. Allen, Jr.
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 0385509669

Pro:
• Clear, accessible text for the average reader
• Immensely informative with a wealth of information
• Provides a good basis for reconsidering assumptions about the Vatican

Con:
• There is a subtle bias to the book which should be kept in mind

Description:
• Detailed explanation of the "real" Vatican and how the Vatican works
• Descriptions of basic values and principles held by Vatican insiders
• Debunks several common myths about the Vatican and those who work there

Book Review

One who might be qualified is John L. Allen, Jr., the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and a Vatican analyst for both CNN and National Public Radio. In his new book All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Works, Allen deconstructs many of the myths, prejudices, and assumptions which people have about the Vatican - supporters as well as detractors.

Allen covers what he argues are the core values which animate the Vatican as an institution, the values which motivate the people who work there, and the general direction in which high-ranking clerics and low-ranking lay people hope to take the Holy See. The result is a long, detailed analysis of Vatican policies and Vatican actions, but not one which generally becomes too dry or boring. If you don't really care about the Vatican, then of course it will all be quite tedious - but if it's a topic that already interests you, then it should be a worth addition to your library.

Two of the best things I can say about any book is that I learned a lot from it and that it made me think about things which I had previously though relatively settled - and Allen's book did both. Although I have read and continue to read a great deal about Catholicism, there is still plenty that I am unaware of. Allen's book, however, is a wealth of information about how the Vatican is run and what the attitudes of people there are like. Even better, it provides an invaluable basis for evaluating future actions and decisions.

In addition, Allen's book should force both Catholics and skeptical outsiders to reconsider their assumptions about the nature of the Vatican and the reasons why certain decisions are made. Whether you are sympathetic or unsympathetic to the Catholic hierarchy, there is a good chance that you don't know as much as you think you do about people's reasoning and perspectives. That's not surprising considering just how unique the perspective is of clerics working in the Vatican - for good and for ill:

For one thing, most business here is conducted in Italian. Beyond that, there's the question of context. On the White House beat, a reference to something that happened in the Clinton administration is considered ancient history. Around the Vatican, it's nothing for officials to cite decisions made by regional church councils in the fourth century. If a reporter doesn't have at least some background in Church history and theology to make sense of such things, it's a prescription for misunderstanding. The result is that English-language reporters tend to rely on a stock set of great myths about the Vatican, recycling them endlessly in different combinations.

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