During the Middle Ages, the popes of Rome claimed both spiritual authority and worldly powers, vying with emperors for supremacy, ruling over the Papal States, and legislating the norms of Christian society. They also faced profound challenges to their proclaimed primacy over Christendom.
"The Medieval Papacy" explores the unique role that the Roman Church and its papal leadership played in the historical development of medieval Europe. Brett Edward Whalen pays special attention to the religious, intellectual and political significance of the papacy from the first century through to the Reformation in the sixteenth century.
Ideal for students, scholars and general readers alike, this approachable survey helps us to understand the origins of an idea and institution that continue to shape our modern world.

Pope John Paul II was the second longest serving pope in history and the longest serving pope of the last century. His presence was influential not only to Catholics, but also throughout the world. The Encyclicals of John Paul II is the first book to focus in depth on the pope's fourteen encyclicals, through which he communicated many of the key themes of his papacy. The first part of the book includes helpful background information-a brief biographical sketch of John Paul II's life, his intellectual formation, and central theological themes of his papacy, including some of the major controversies of the 20th century. The first section of the book also provides invaluable background on the nature of an encyclical, including the history of this papal document. The second part of the book provides a thorough commentary on these encyclicals. The encyclicals are grouped by theme, introduced individually, and analyzed to trace broad themes through John Paul II's work and theology. The Encyclicals of John Paul II provides an important discussion of these key documents from John Paul II's papacy.

Contains more than thirty of the most popular novenas carefully arranged for private prayer in accord with the Liturgical year on feasts of Jesus, Mary, and the Saints. Illustrated.

Catherine Pepinster charts the relationship between the British and the papacy in the modern era, looking at how this relationship is coloured by its turbulent past. Despite the enmity of previous centuries, Pepinster uncovers surprising instances of influence of the papacy in British politics, the collaboration between Pope and politicians on key issues, the 'stealth minority' of Catholics occupying major positions in public life, and the modern relationship between the Papacy and the Crown. In addition Pepinster analyses the crucial role that Britain has played in Rome, uncovers the unexpected role of the British Foreign Office in the appointment of Pope Francis, and discusses the modern style of the papacy and how this functions on a global scale. Featuring exclusive interviews with Cardinals Nichols and Murphy-O'Connor, Rowan Williams, Lord Patten and former British Ambassadors to both the Holy See and Italy, this account of the contemporary relationship between Great Britain and the Pope offers both fundamental evidence and penetrating insights into this most fascinating of political relationships.

Unique among contemporary resources, the landmark Systematic Theology and its distinguished contributors present the major areas or loci of Roman Catholic theology in light of contemporary developmentsespecially the seachange since Vatican II thought, the best new historical studies of traditional doctrines and Scripture, and the diverse creative impulses that come from recent philosophy and hermeneutics, culture and praxis, and ecumenical contacts. This new volume combines and updates both previous volumes, incorporates into the framework nearly twenty years of fresh thought and bibliography in each area, and adds revisions to key articles to take account of a diverse, fluid, and postmodern situation.

"Volume I" consists of three parts: Preliminary Notions," "Historical Overview of the Liturgy," and "Liturgical Sources." Articles and their contributors include "A Definition of Liturgy," by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB; "Liturgical Families in the East," by Ephrem Carr, OSB; "Liturgical Families in the West," by Gabriel Ramis; "Bible and Liturgy," by Renato De Zan; "Liturgy and the Fathers," by Basil Studer, OSB; "Liturgy and Ecumenism," by Patrick Lyons, OSB; "History of the Liturgy Until the Fourth Century," by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB; "History of the Eastern Liturgies," by Manel Nin, OSB; "History of the Roman Liturgy Until the Fifteenth Century," by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB; "History of the Roman Liturgy from the Sixteenth Until the Twentieth Centuries," by Keith F. Pecklers, SJ; "History of the Liturgies in the Non-Roman West," by Jordi Pinell I Pons, OSB; "Liturgical Documents of the First Four Centuries," by Basil Studer, OSB; "Byzantine Liturgical Books," by Elena Velkova Velkovska; "Other Liturgical Books in the East," by Manel Nin, OSB; "Liturgical Books of the Roman Rite," by Cassian Folsom, OSB; "Liturgical Books of the Non-Roman West," by Gabriel Ramis; "Liturgical Textual Criticism," by Renato De Zan; "Criticism and Interpretation of Liturgical Texts," by Renato De Zan; "Translation of Liturgical Texts," by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB; and "Liturgical Law," by Frederick R. McManus.

More than forty authors from Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, and Eastern and Western Europe have contributed to the "Handbook." Many are professors and graduates of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome. Each author, while drawing material from liturgical tradition and from ancient, medieval, and modern sources, writes also from a particular research and personal interest in a subject. Although diverse in style, the authors collectively express a spirit of fidelity to the Church, to its doctrine and tradition, and to its mission. The result is a cohesive view of the meaning, purpose, and celebration of Christian worship.

"Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB, is the director of the Paul VI Institute of Liturgy in the Philippines and professor of liturgical inculturation at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome. Among his publications are "Liturgies of the Future: The Process and Methods of Inculturation"and "Liturgical Inculturation: Sacraments, Religiosity, and Catechesis, "published by The Liturgical Press.""

Here is the book that converted C. S. Lewis from atheism to Christianity. This history of mankind, Christ, and Christianity is to some extent a conscious rebuttal of H. G. Wells' Outline of History, which embraced both the evolutionary origins of humanity and the mortal humanity of Jesus. Whereas Orthodoxy detailed Chesterton's own spiritual journey, this book illustrates the spiritual journey of humanity, or at least of Western civilization. A book for both mind and spirit.

Incompatible with God's Design is the first comprehensive history of the Roman Catholic women's ordination movement in the United States. Mary Jeremy Daigler explores how the focus on ordination, and not merely "increased participation" in the life and ministries of the church, has come to describe a broad movement. Moving well beyond the role of such organizations as the Women's Ordination Conference, this study also addresses the role of international and local groups. In an effort to debunk a number of misperceptions about the movement, from its date of origin to its demographic profile, Daigler explores a vast array of topics. Starting with the movement's historical background from the early American period through the early twentieth century to Vatican II and afterward, she considers the role of women (especially Catholicism's more religious adherents) in the movement's evolution, the organization of the ordination movement in the United States, the role and response of clergy and Vatican teachings, the reality of international influences on the U.S. movement, and the full range of challenges-past and present-to the ordination movement. Incompatible with God's Design is compelling reading for any student of theology and women's studies, as well as those interested in staying abreast with the changing role of women within the U.S. Roman Catholic Church.

This book is a cultural and intellectual history of anti-Catholicism in the period 1840-1870. The book will have two major themes: trans-nationalism and gender. Previous approaches to anti-Catholicism in the United States have adopted an exclusively national focus. This book breaks new ground by exploring the trans-Atlantic ties joining opponents of Catholicism in the United States and in France. The anticlerical works of major French writers such as Jules Michelet and Edgar Quinet flowed into the United States in the middle decades of the century. From the French perspective, the United States offered a model in combating the alleged ambitions of the Church. The literature and ideas which passed through this trans-Atlantic channel were overwhelmingly concerned with masculinity, femininity and domesticity. On both sides of the Atlantic, anti-Catholic literature was filled with images of priests or Jesuits craftily usurping the authority of fathers, of young girls tricked into entering convents and then subjected to merciless sexual and physical abuse, of families torn apart by the agents of the Church. Of course, the gender and domestic ideals underlying this opposition to Catholicism were not identical across the two societies. Nevertheless, gender and domesticity acted as a platform on which the trans-Atlantic case against Catholicism was built.

Since 2002, the Roman Catholic Church has been in crisis over the sexual abuse of minors by priests and the cover-up of those crimes by bishops. Over 11,000 alleged victims have reported their experiences to the Church, and more than 4,700 priests since 1950 have been credibly accused of sexually victimizing minors. The Church has paid over one billion dollars to adults who claim to have been sexually abused by priests and there is no end in sight to these lawsuits.

Celibacy, homosexuality in the priesthood, the infiltration into the priesthood of secular moral relativism, too much liberalism in the Church since Vatican II, damaging rollback of Vatican II reforms by conservative prelates--all have been suggested as causes for the crisis. This book, however, begins with the premise that, because the pattern of abuse and cover-up was so similar across the world, there is something fundamentally awry with Church traditions and power structures in relationship to sexuality and sexual abuse.

Specifically, in chapters on suffering and sadomasochism, bodies and gender, desire and sexuality, celibacy and homosexuality, the author concludes that aspects of the Catholic theology of sexuality set the stage for the abuse of minors and its cover-up. Frawley-O'Dea also analyzes the American bishops' lack of pastoral care and tendency towards clerical narcissism--the belief that the needs of the hierarchy represent the needs of the wider Church--as central factors in the scandal. She balances this criticism with a discussion of the backgrounds of the bishops presiding over the crisis and the challenges they faced in their relationships with the Pope and Vatican officials.

Drawing on twenty years of clinical experience, she imagines the dynamics of sexual abuse both from the victim's point of view and from the priest's, and she probes why the Church hierarchy, fellow priests, and lay people were silent for so long. Finally, Frawley-O'Dea examines factors internal to the Church and outside of it that drew this scandal into the public square and kept it there.

This work provides a comprehensive examination of Christian Democracy in Latin America from its nineteenth-century origins to the events of the 1990s. Lynch treats the record of Christian Democratic parties in the most crucial areas of economic concern in Latin America: chapters on land reform, nationalization, and the emergence of free market capitalism point up the relationship between politics and economics. Lynch concludes that had Latin America's Christian Democrats followed their own policy prescriptions, both they and Latin America would be better off. Instead, Christian Democrats abandoned their roots in Catholic social thought, embraced statism, and left their countries completely unprepared for the upsurge in liberal economic reform that swept Latin America in the 1980s.

This work provides a comprehensive examination of Christian Democracy in Latin America from its nineteenth-century origins to the events of the 1990s. The author treats the record of Christian Democratic parties in the most crucial areas of economic concern in Latin America: chapters on land reform, nationalization, and the emergence of free market capitalism point up the relationship between politics and economics. Lynch concludes that had Latin America's Christian Democrats followed their own policy prescriptions, both they and Latin America would be better off. Instead, Christian Democrats abandoned their roots in Catholic social thought, embraced statism, and left their countries completely unprepared for the upsurge in liberal economic reform that swept Latin America in the 1980s.

This work will be of interest to scholars and students in Latin American studies, Third World studies, political economy, comparative politics, and religion and politics.