"Wills describes a papacy that seems steadfastly unwilling to face the truth about itself, its past, and its relations with others.".

"Wills traces the rise of the papacy's stubborn resistance to the truth, beginning with the challenges posed in the nineteenth century by science, democracy, scriptural scholarship, and rigorous history. The legacy of that resistance, despite the brief flare of John XXIII's papacy and some good initiatives in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council (later baffled), is still strong in the Vatican.".

"Finally Wills reminds the reader of the positive potential of the Church by turning to some great truth tellers of the Catholic tradition - St. Augustine, John Henry Newman, John Acton, and John XXIII. In them, Wills shows that the righteous path can still be taken, if only the Vatican will muster the courage to speak even embarrassing truths in the name of Truth itself."--BOOK JACKET.