Ambrogio Caiani, "Flirting with Evil: The Catholic Church in the Age of Total War and Globalisation" (Apollo, 2026)
About this episode
Ambrogio Caiani discusses his book revealing the Catholic Church's history of corruption during the twentieth century.
It's a shadowy, ornate world of cover-ups and hidden motives. In Flirting with Evil: The Catholic Church in the Age of Total War and Globalisation (Apollo, 2026), Ambrogio Caiani lifts back the heavy velvet curtains of the chancel and peers behind the locked mahogany doors of the Vatican to reveal the shocking truths that make up a century of Catholic corruption. For many, Catholicism's flirtation with evil has become impossible to ignore: a pope courting Nazi officials and, horribly, turning a blind eye to the Holocaust; the Vatican becoming embroiled in a series of dodgy financial dealings; the child abuse continuously perpetrated by members of the clergy. Time and time again, Catholic figures have made terrible choices in private and preached in public about goodness and morality. This is the first history that focuses exclusively on Catholicism throughout the twentieth century, sketching not only scandalous stories of corruption but also lively portrayals of Catholicism's key characters—from a beret-clad communist revolutionary priest to the bizarre morning routine of the pope who followed a daily cold bath with dry unbuttered toast. Caiani, a critical Catholic himself…
People in this episode
Guest: Ambrogio Caiani
Topics covered
- Catholic Church
- total war
- globalization
- corruption
- history
- socio-political context
Keywords
- Catholicism
- Holocaust
- financial dealings
- child abuse
- Vatican
- history
- Ambrogio Caiani
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Catholic Church, Vatican, Apollo
Books & works: Flirting with Evil: The Catholic Church in the Age of Total War and Globalisation
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