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The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities, and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church Kindle Edition

by John Thavis (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 440 ratings

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The New York Times–bestselling inside look at one of the world’s most powerful and mysterious institutions

For more than twenty-five years, John Thavis held one of the most remarkable journalistic assignments in the world: reporting on the inner workings of the Vatican. In The Vatican Diaries, Thavis reveals Vatican City as a place struggling to define itself in the face of internal and external threats, where Curia cardinals fight private wars and sexual abuse scandals threaten to undermine papal authority. Thavis (author of The Vatican Prophecies: Investigating Supernatural Signs, Apparitions, and Miracles in the Modern Age) also takes readers through the politicking behind the election of Pope Francis and what we might expect from his papacy. The Vatican Diaries is a perceptive, compelling, and provocative account of this singular institution and will be of interest to anyone intrigued by the challenges faced by religion in an increasingly secularized world.

From Booklist

Thavis, who covered the Vatican for 30 years as a journalist, has written an insider’s account chronicling some of the people, issues, and scandals that have made headlines over the years. The press hasn’t always been flattering, nor are some of the details Thavis recounts, such as the Vatican’s inaction when repeatedly apprised of allegations of sexual abuse of teenage seminarians by the founder of the Legion of Christ religious order. Though sympathetic to the Church, Thavis doesn’t stray very far from his journalistic roots. He presents the facts, leaving the editorial conclusions to be drawn by the reader. Although much of the book’s content will be of most interest to Catholics, the chapter titled “Sex,” which addresses condoms, AIDS, and homosexuality, will surely command a wider audience. In the end, we are left with a more nuanced understanding of the Vatican, an institution Thavis describes as “marked more by human flair and fallibility than ruthless efficiency.” The clergy sex-abuse scandal, however, may well belie the latter part of that assessment. --Christopher McConnell --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

John Thavis recently retired as the prizewinning Rome bureau chief of Catholic News Service, a position he had held since 1983. He recently served as an ABC correspondent throughout the sudden resignation of Pope Benedict, the papal conclave that elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and the instillation of Pope Francis. In 2007 the Catholic Press Association awarded him the St. Francis de Sales Award, the highest honor given by the Catholic press. He lives in Bemidji, Minnesota. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Review

"Wonder what's going on behind those huge doors at the Vatican? Wonder what those cardinals are up to as they scurry about getting ready to elect a new pope? Wonder what the man who rings the bells when that new pope is finally elected is thinking? Thavis answers all in this fascinating book."
~USA Today

"A veritable handbook on all things Vatican."
~The Daily Beast

"A thoughtful meditation on recent papal administrations and the bureaucrats, functionaries, and emissaries who advance or thwart Rome’s global ambitions."
~New York Journal of Books

"Most fascinating is Thavis' generous assessment of Benedict XVI, whom he sees as an almost tragic figure."
~The New Yorker

"Thavis’s Vatican Diaries is well worth putting on your Amazon wish list."
~Forbes

"[The Vatican Diaries] succeeds well in presenting the Roman Curia as a flesh-and-blood community, a byzantine theater of the sacred."
~National Catholic Reporter

"Entertaining and readable."
~Publishers Weekly

"A lively book that's steeped in history and personality."
~The Eagle Tribune

“Thavis has offered this rare, perceptive and highly readable glimpse into a power structure that is less in control than many would have us believe.”
~America

"Illuminating and fully accessible to members of the faith and doubters alike."
~Kirkus Reviews

"In an age when social media threatens to emasculate news and current affairs, Thavis' work is a refreshing sign that great journalism is not dead. Instead of the inane trivia that now passes for 'news' , Thavis provides us with an account of great depth carefully tempered with censure and sympathy."
~Justin Cahill, Booktopia

"An American Catholic who has done his homework, learned Latin and Italian, made friends in high places, found his way for thirty years in the maze of Church bureaucracy, gives us a humane and realistic and (yes) humorous picture of a mortal institution that guides hundreds of millions of mortals along the path from birth to death and beyond. To an old Prot like me, it's a tour of alien terrain and a bridge to old and dear friends."
~Garrison Keillor

“Vatican Diaries is a must-read for anyone interested in the Vatican’s role in the Catholic Church and the world.
~Thomas J. Reese, S.J.

"The Vatican Diaries by John Thavis provides us with an intriguing and much needed antidote to one of the most common problems affecting many Catholics and non-Catholics who look at the Vatican these days: the assumption of the cold ruthlessness of the "machine". Thavis shows us also the deeply human side of the Vatican, the last Empire and the last, great theater of the sacred in Western Christianity."
~Massimo Faggioli, University of St. Thomas

"In this highly readable memoir of being a journalist at the Vatican, John Thavis follows the conclaves, sex scandals, internal backstabbing and olympian nature of the popes with a sense of comic relief at the caravan passing through his viewfinder."
~Jason Berry, author of Render unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Print length

352 pages
Language

English
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Penguin Books
Publication date

February 21, 2013
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4.2 out of 5

440 global ratings

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A revealing look inside the opaque world of the Vatican

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2020

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Jerry Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that:

“…in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representatives who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.”

Imagine a bureaucracy in which the Iron Law has been working inexorably since the Roman Empire.

The author has covered the Vatican for the Catholic News Service for the last thirty years. He has travelled with popes and other Vatican officials to more than sixty countries and, developing his own sources within a Vatican which is simultaneously opaque to an almost medieval level in its public face, yet leaks like a sieve as factions try to enlist journalists in advancing their agendas. In this book he uses his access to provide a candid look inside the Vatican, at a time when the church is in transition and crisis.

He begins with a peek inside the mechanics of the conclave which chose Pope Benedict XVI: from how the black or white smoke is made to how the message indicating the selection of a new pontiff is communicated (or not) to the person responsible for ringing the bell to announce the event to the crowds thronging St Peter's Square.

There is a great deal of description, bordering on gonzo, of the reality of covering papal visits to various countries: in summary, much of what you read from reporters accredited to the Vatican comes from their watching events on television, just as you can do yourself.

The author does not shy from controversy. He digs deeply into the sexual abuse scandals and cover-up which rocked the church, the revelations about the founder of the Legion of Christ, the struggle between then traditionalists of the Society of St Pius X and supporters of the Vatican II reforms in Rome, and the battle over the beatification of Pope Pius XII. On the lighter side, we encounter the custodians of Latin, including the Vatican Bank ATM which displays its instructions in Latin: “Inserito scidulam quaeso ut faciundum cognoscas rationem”.

This is an enlightening look inside one of the most influential, yet least understood, institutions in what remains of Western civilisation. On the event of the announcement of the selection of Pope Francis, James Lileks wrote:

“…if you'd turned the sound down on the set and shown the picture to Julius Cæsar, he would have smiled broadly. For the wrong reasons, of course—his order did not survive in its specific shape, but in another sense it did. The architecture, the crowds, the unveiling would have been unmistakable to someone from Cæsar's time. They would have known exactly what was going on.”

Indeed—the Vatican gets ceremony. What is clear from this book is that it doesn't get public relations in an age where the dissemination of information cannot be controlled, and that words, once spoken, cannot be taken back, even if a “revised and updated” transcript of them is issued subsequently by the bureaucracy.

4 people found this helpful

John Thavis' behind-the-scenes tale of The Vatican is as lively and relevant as any tale about Washington DC intrigue

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2013

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Even a long-lapsed Catholic like me can appreciate the tales spun in 'Vatican Diaries' by long-time Catholic News Service reporter John Thavis. Replace religion with politics, cardinals and curia with inside-the-Beltway officials and K Street lobbyists and you get the oeuvre: it's the 'making of the sausage' tale of how an administration stumbles along, dealing with inertia, miscommunication, intrigue and a general inability to stay out of its own way on the road to governing and putting its best face to the public. In this environment, John Thavis is the Vatican's Woodward: tell him your story...or risk having someone else tell him about your role in the story.

Though this book stops short of ex-Pope Benedict's resignation, his stepping away - however historic - comes as no great surprise to readers of this book. The Benedict of this book comes across as disengaged, ineffectual and tired. And larded on top of that is Thavis' unvarnished disappointment in the now-former pope's capacity as a newsmaker. The former Cardinal Ratzinger is the journalistic equivalent of a wet blanket, literally boring Thavis and his Vatican reporting colleagues to tears. You can almost hear Thavis shouting: "John Paul II, ahhh.....now THAT was a pope!"

My one disappointment in the book: Thavis missed an opportunity to give us the insider goods on Bernard Law, the ex-Boston Cardinal who in many eyes serves as the personification of the ghastly child sex abuse cover-up (Law was the master of the archdiocesan priest shuffle). Law's abrupt move to Rome in December 2002 had the stink of a flee from justice. I would love to get Thavis' take on Law's pariah-like existence in Italy.

I listened to the audio version of 'Vatican Diaries,' masterfully narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner. I especially loved Hillgartner's verbal take on Reginald Foster, a Wisconsin priest who, for 40 years, served as the Vatican's chief Latinist. Thavis' Foster fairly leaps off the pages. Hillgartner puts the animated, inimitable, unfiltered Foster in the room with you.

2 people found this helpful

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Mark Davis

This novel comes highly recommended.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2021

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This novel is about a time in the church and offers background to the Vatican and how it all works. It is an insight and very interesting almost from a media perspective. If you want to learn more about the previous Pope and the history of the Vatican then this is for you.

Laurent Beaulieu

a great book

Reviewed in Canada on April 20, 2013

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Thavis is an insider one of those reporters who after 30 years tells fascinating stories on the Popes he covered. Some passages are quite funny and gives insights on Pope Jean Paul II not usually seen in public. Travelling with the Pope on his plane is more of an ordeal than pleasure and a great deal of confusion and disorganization. He also speaks on the different scandals affecting the Papacy in the last 25 years and gives again insight which is helpful to the reader in understanding the Papal Court. Good book great read.

One person found this helpful

Thomas Regelien

Alles tip-top in Ordnung!

Reviewed in Germany on March 19, 2013

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Die deutsche Ausgabe sollte hoffentlich bald folgen.
Und dann ergänzt werden um das Krimi-Thema "Jesuiten", d.h. die Vatikan-Abteilung, in der der "neue" Papst Franz erzogen wurde. Hochspannend diese Jesuiten-Abteilung.

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BrendanKelleher

A veterans memories, humorous and insightful

Reviewed in Japan on April 20, 2013

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Definitely a go to book for an inside look at the Vatican that urgently needs reform.

Andrew J

Generally worth a read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2022

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Not being a Roman Catholic (and the contents of this book would never encourage me or indeed anyone of sound mind to leave the Church of England and make the journey to Rome) I have read this book with a certain amount of detachment and at times wry amusement at the behind the scenes glimpse of the RC Church and the Pope.

There were parts of the book that I thought laboured a little such as the opening chapter detailing the ringing of the bell to announce to the world that a new pope as been elected; and the chapter on the Mexican/American pedophile priest, worthy of inclusion of course, but perhaps a little too much background info, although it was interesting. The problem of pedophile priests of course is like a cancer in RC Church which needs cutting out but as this book questions is there the will to do it? I do sincerely hope it can overcome the this particular problem.

In the book we get insights in to the workings of the the mind of an RC theologian who thinks that most of the theology of the RC church in nonsense (hardly a good advertisement for the Catholics!!) However, the biggest source of "innocent merriment" to quote GIlbert and Sullivan's Mikado, for me was the chapter on Sex. THe RC Church teachings on all things to do with sex are absurd and do the Vatican no credit at all. Their position on things like the use of condoms is confused and pointless, therefore it makes it completely risible. How can a group of celibate (supposedly) men pontificate on things like sex when (allegedly) they have no experience of it?

Although as this book demonstrates, and Frederic Martel's book "In the closet of the Vatican - a highly recommendable read) reveals, that many members of the Catholic clergy in the Vatican have vast experience of sex, much of it gay sex as well. Although these non-celibate clergy hide behind the pretended ideals of sexual innocence. This chapter of the book talking about the RC Church and sex was highly amusing!!!

Over 600 years ago Martin Luther concluded at the start of the protestant reformation that the Church of Rome had erred and was corrupt. This view is supported in the articles of the Church of England as printed in the Book Of Common Prayer (article 21 I think if you want to check it). This and other books proves amply that Luther's view point is as brutally accurate today as it was in the 16th Century and that we must be so thankful for the reformation and the Church of England. That said it is so sad to see the Vatican and the RC Church is such a state of disorder for despite its failings - and there are many, it still has - to quote the words of the hymn "a gospel to proclaim".

Generally though this book is worth a read.

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