Cette saga plonge dans le monde complexe du Vatican, relatant des élections papales dramatiques et les profonds voyages personnels de ceux qui dirigent l'Église catholique. La série explore le choc entre la foi et la politique, la tradition et la modernité, ainsi que les luttes intérieures des individus confrontés à une immense responsabilité. Ces récits sont riches en intrigues, en exploration spirituelle et en réflexions sur les plus grandes questions de l'humanité.
A Russian - and the youngest cardinal of all - is elected as the new pope. This is the story of Kiril Lakota, a cardinal who reluctantly steps out from behind the Iron Curtain to lead the Catholic Church and to grapple with the many issues facing the contemporary world.
The Pope declares he has received a private revelation that the world is about to end, and an old friend embarks on a dangerous journey to investigate whether he's mad or whether just possibly there's truth in it.
Participant à la fois de l'anticipation à court terme (vers la fin du XXe siècle) et de la politique-fiction (le Pape a dû abdiquer à la suite d'une révélation de la fin des temps), ce seizième roman de l'écrivain australien conserve un ton plausible. Par ailleurs, pas plus que chez Graham Greene à qui on l'a souvent comparé, il n'y a d'emphase religieuse ou d'esquisses ou d'esquives moralisantes, quoique le sujet s'y prête. Le message inhérent joue non par autorité (d'auteurs) mais par influence (provenant du for intérieur du lecteur). Réflexif.
Ailing Pope Leo XIV is threatened by the terrorist group, The Sword of Islam, while in the Vatican, intrigue and conspiracy mount. Leo's heart surgeon gets caught up in the terrorist plot.
Imagine that a Pope, known for his doctrinal conservatism, were to die and his private diaries were revealed to be full of doubts about his papacy and the future of the Catholic Church. Such is the hypothesis of Morris West's tale of Vatican politics. At its heart is Luca, Cardinal Rossini, who has suffered torture and degradation as a priest under Argentinian dictatorship but who has risen to high office in the Vatican. He is a flawed man but he is still a man of power and a candidate for election. Just as his career seems poised to reach its zenith, he is plunged back into his past, reminded of a love affair which had seemed dead. Morris West, best-selling author The Shoes of the Fisherman and The Devil's Advocate, has fashioned a thrilling tale of ambition and power-broking in the world of Vatican politics that he knows so well.