Selecting the best books of the year is an undertaking of great pleasure, as remembering wonderful reads is its own lovely pastime. Our list of 100 Editors’ Picks of 2025 highlights titles we never ti...

On this day in 1962, Pope John XXIII solemnly opened the Second Vatican Council, the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. https://t.co/8IlECgpsil

The recent history of papal corruption and controversy raises the question: should popes be limited to five-year terms?

The recent history of papal corruption and controversy raises the question: should popes be limited to five-year terms?

In 2000, at a secret meeting in the Vatican, an Australian bishop warned a deluge would soon overwhelm the Catholic Church.  The sex abuse crisis would become the greatest challenge to the authority ...

If the first hundred days of a papacy can shake up the Catholic church, how much drama occurs over 80 years?  History rolls on, one war ends, another begins, scandals aplenty unfold.  But for author...

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Curl up this winter with a gripping account of tech geniuses, tales of Russian arms deals or Xi Jinping’s father. There’s even a tome on our first and last words.

Tragedy and hope vie for thematic supremacy in Philip Shenon's newest book, Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church, a highly readable, character-driven narrative fo...

When you lie down by the pool this summer, pick up one of these titles

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If we truly believe that the church includes all the baptized, we need better systems of transparency and accountability so that the laity might truly participate co-responsibly in our church.

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Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute will host a virtual discussion on Wednesday, May 28, with author Philip Shenon on challenges facing the Catholic Church and...

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The movie “Conclave” delves into the intricacies of papal politics and the election of a new pope, but how accurate is it in portraying the Vatican's inner workings?

Pope Pius XII speaks in English to Allied soldiers in 1944 https://t.co/g8lswDayVG

For centuries, popes have been remote figures, information about their private lives carefully controlled to safeguard their image and promote the mystique of the office. Jesus Wept, describing the pa...

Intervista al cardinale e teologo tedesco

NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Philip Shenon, author of "Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church," about how Pope Francis' legacy will shape the upcoming conclave.

OPINION: Christopher Finlayson was preparing to sign a Treaty deed of settlement with Ngāi Tuhoe when the chance phone call came through.

From the blog of Joshua Z. Rokach at The Times of Israel

He touched lives and transformed the world. What else could you ask for in a spiritual leader?

Pope Francis proved to be far more cautious and conservative than many progressive Catholics had hoped for.

Rejected Central is a podcast that seeks to elevate the rejection experience with interviews, lively conversation, and an all-round rejection of the idea that rejection is always a bad thing.

UNLV Boyd School of Law professor Leslie C. Griffin discusses the long history of child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church and the role of various popes in either ignoring or covering up allega...

A new account of the papacy’s recent history reveals the transformation of the office in the mass-media age.

In Jesus Wept, investigative journalist Philip Shenon examines the last seven popes, and how efforts to reform the Church with the Second Vatican Council led to power struggles and doctrinal debates t...

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

Philip Shenon’s “Jesus Wept” looks at the church since World War II, with particular focus on the clerical abuse crisis and the ideological battles that followed the Second Vatican Council.

"Jesus Wept" surveys the Vatican’s sexual abuse scandals, wartime escapades, and attempts at modernization.

A little-remembered gathering might have changed everything, a new book argues