"A murder; an accusation of sexual misconduct in the future cardinal's past; a seminary rivalry; vaulting ambition; a power play in international finance; a virtual schism in the American hierarchy; another Avignon pope; two or three really nice people - Mclnerny's new novel will keep you in suspense until the next to the last page. A nifty parable and a lot of fun." - Michael Novak, American Enterprise Institute "An intimate knowledge of things Catholic, an exuberant orthodoxy, and an apparently unlimited gift of narrative imagination. Ralph Mclnerny has them all. Life is unfair, fortunately." - Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, Editor, First Things "Ralph Mclnerny's satirical probe into the sickness of our times is very funny. But beneath the comedy and the pathology there is an undercurrent of grief over the immense tragedy of the Church in North America and Europe.
