"The Pope is dead. Behind locked doors of the Sistine chapel, 118 cardinals from around the world will cast their votes in the world's most secretive election. They are holy men, but they are men of the world, and they have rivals. And over the next seventy-two hours one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth."--Dust jacket.

To rescue kidnapped Tess Chaykin, FBI agent Sean Reilly infiltrates the Pope's massive Vatican Secret Archives of the Inquisition in search of a document known as the Fondo Templari, a secret history of the infamous Templars.

Manifesting intense religious episodes after losing first her grandmother and then her priest friend, Cynthia becomes convinced that God intends for her to become Catholicism's first female priest and pursues her belief all the way to the Vatican.

An introduction to Catholicism which focuses on the Vatican City.

At the Vatican, following the demise of the Pope, the conclave to elect his successor settles on Cardinal Melville. But the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square wait in vain for the new Pope to step out on the balcony. What is going on? Behind the thick walls of the Vatican panic has set in. After uttering a terrible howl of fear, the Cardinal refuses the office. The officials do everything to try to reason with Melville, including a psychoanalyst,...

"St. Peter's Square, Rome. White smoke signals that a new Pope has been chosen. Is it possible that the new Pope is a woman? The world is watching as historic crowds gather in Rome, waiting for news of a new Pope, one who promises to be unlike any other in the Church's history. Some followers are ecstatic, but the leading candidate has made a legion of powerful enemies. From a difficult childhood with drug addled parents, to a career as a doctor...

Lieutenant Billy Boyle goes undercover in the Vatican when his British spy girlfriend, Diana Seaton, goes missing in the wake of an American monsignor's murder, a case that is complicated by the Vatican's neutral stance in German-occupied Rome.

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon discovers evidence of the resurgence of the most powerful underground organization in history, the Illuminati. Upon learning of an unstoppable terrorist act against the Vatican, Langdon travels to Rome and joins forces with Italian scientist Vittoria Vetra and together they will follow the 400-year-old Path of Illumination that leads to the Vatican's only chance for survival.

"Church of Spies documents this cloak and dagger intrigue in shocking detail. Gun-toting Jesuits stole blueprints to Hitler?s homes. A Catholic book publisher flew a sports plane over the Alps with secrets filched from the head of Hitler?s bodyguard. The keeper of the Vatican crypt ran a spy ring that betrayed German war plans and wounded Hitler in a briefcase bombing. The plotters made history in ways they hardly expected. They inspired European...