Vicars of Christ: Popes, Power, and Politics in the Modern World.

This past year has seen a spate of books on the papacy. My guess is that we will see even more thanks to the coming of the millennial events and the inevitable speculation about what kind of pope is needed and/or possible once John Paul II passes from the scene.

Riccards, whose previous work was on the leadership styles of the American presidency, offers a study of the modem papacy beginning with the long reign of Pius IX and ending with the current pontiff. This work is heavily dependent on secondary scholarship in English and does not reflect any archival work. It is a popular (which does not mean superficial) history of the papacy with a specific interest in how various popes exercised their authority.

Riccards demonstrates how the internal life of the church is always bound up with the larger world. From Pius IX to Pius XI there was, for example, the so-called "Roman Question": namely, the relationship of the church to the newly independent Italian nation. In that same period, the popes could not be indifferent to the often ferociously anticlerical governments in traditionally Catholic countries like Spain, France, Germany, and Italy itself. Even the missionary activities of Catholicism, which were extensive in the last century, could not be disengaged from the colonialism of the time.

This book takes up each pope in turn, making an assessment of their diplomatic efforts ad extra as well as their care for and concern with internal church matters. Riccards's review of the recent past helps put the exigent realities of today's church life into perspective. It is salutary to be reminded that talk of a general church council predated Pope John XXIII; that Cardinal Wojtyla had a significant hand in crafting the encyclical Humanae vitae; that as early as the reign of Pius XII there was some discussion about emending the rule of celibacy for all Western clergy. I was forcefully struck by Riccards's observation that when Pius XII died it was thought that his influence would last a hundred years. In fact, it was over in two. Having lived in Rome at that time, I remember the adulation that the pope received, the obsessive scrutiny given to every one of his pronouncements, the curious stories about his mystical visions, the laments at his passing, and the ambivalent reputation he possesses today.

One fact that does stand out is that every pope shapes the college of cardinals, but rarely does his successor turn out to be a mirror image of himself. Riccards also argues that there are real perils for those who wish to reform from above. That fact may help explain why the popes in general put more energy into conserving the life of faith than into changing it. When rapid change comes, some popes (John XXIII) accept it with much more equanimity than others (Paul VI).

In general, despite a number of misprints and other minor errata, this is a readable work by an understanding but critical Catholic historian. The only pope for whom he shows unreserved admiration is John XXIII, but Riccards is sympathetic to the excruciating dilemmas of those, like Benedict XV and Paul VI, who got caught up in huge cultural and political changes over which they had little control. Riccards's measured criticisms will only be disputed by papal idolaters. Even in those cases where his judgment is harsh (for example, Pius XII at the end of his papacy; Pius X's crusade against the modernists), he is not insensitive to the genuine accomplishments of those he criticizes.

Lawrence S. Cunningham teaches theology at the University of Notre Dame.