The Secret Archives of the Vatican - Maria Luisa Ambrosini and Mary Willis

A very enjoyable book, marrying the history of the Catholic Church with that of the Vatican Archives very happily. It's annoying in places: for example, it tries to partly excuse the practice of castrating young boys for the Vatican choir by asking what current practices will be regarded with equal horror in a century's time: this ignores the very strong possibility that the castration would be seen as far worse than current practices, quite besides seeming to assume that moral values are strictly relative to time and place, which is surely not a position to be espoused by someone who seems to be a fairly conservative Catholic. There's some mealimouthedness ...  Read the complete review