popes

Biography of Pope John Paul II, discussing his Polish background, his religious philosophy, and his political ideology.

Jack Ryan, having jumped at the offer to join the CIA as a freelance analyst in the early 1980s, quickly finds himself in over his head when he uncovers a KGB plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II.

Provides a concise history of the Catholic Church and the papacy, and chronicles the brief but productive reign of Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli as Pope John XXIII in the mid-twentieth century.

A biography of Karol Wojtyla of Poland, the first non-Italian to be elected Pope in several centuries.

Traces the life of Pope John Paul II from his birth as Karol Wojtyle in Poland in 1920, to his death in Rome in 2005, following his career through the Catholic Church, and looking at some of the most significant challenges he faced along the way.

Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI on April 19, 2005 , the first German pope in almost 500 years. A brilliant intellectual who speaks five languages and can read old Greek, Latin and classical Hebrew, he has a near-photographic memory. He is conservative, humble and reserved but also controversial because of his membership in the Hitler Youth and his former job as Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF), essentially making decisions every day on the Catholic way of doing things.

A brief biography of Pope Leo X, the leader of the Catholic Church at the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, providing information on his reign of extravagance and culture, and explaining how he excommunicated Martin Luther, the German priest who led the reformation.