Last Pope, The

Product Description

A gripping novel that goes behind the scenes of the Vatican's search for a new pope and a Church divided against itself.
In the tradition of Morris West's bestselling The Shoes of the Fisherman, this evocative and moving novel takes the reader deep inside the inner world of the Vatican and the American branch of the Holy See to dramatize the great moral issues that are eviscerating the church.
The story begins with the passing of Gregory XVIII, a humble and beloved pope. The Lords of the Church meet in the secret recesses of the Basilica to elect a successor. At that point, forces of reaction and humanity are joined in mortal combat. Father Ignatius Heriot, an American cardinal and a man of decency and caring, struggles with his own inner demons as he faces the possibility of being elected pope. Torn inside, everything changes when he fulfills a promise to the dying pope to meet Father John Zacharias, a charismatic priest who has begun to attract hundreds of thousands of followers, as he preaches for the reforms the church has so bitterly rejected.