“When I became pope, almost the first word the Curia taught me was 'ricatto'—blackmail.” -Pope John XXIV
If there's faith, corruption, ambition, political backstabbing, and sex, it must be the Vatican. The diaries of an Australian cardinal who has, through extraordinary circumstances, become pope reveal the inner workings of the Vatican and—when he realizes his tenure may be short and begins enacting sweeping reforms—the centuries-old system in place to make sure that the status quo is maintained, at any cost.
It's like an Agatha Christie mystery set in the Vatican, where the most powerful person is powerless in the face of opposing forces both within and without his inner circle.
