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Absolute Power: How the Pope Became the Most Influential Man in the World
The sensational story of the last two centuries of the papacy, its most influential pontiffs, troubling doctrines, and rise in global authority
In 1799, the papacy was at rock The Papal States had been swept away and Rome seized by the revolutionary French armies. With cardinals scattered across Europe and the next papal election uncertain, even if Catholicism survived, it seemed the papacy was finished.
In this gripping narrative of religious and political history, Paul Collins tells the improbable success story of the last 220 years of the papacy, from the unexalted death of Pope Pius VI in 1799 to the celebrity of Pope Francis today. In a strange contradiction, as the papacy has lost its physical power -- its armies and states -- and remained stubbornly opposed to the currents of social and scientific consensus, it has only increased its influence and political authority in the world.
In 1799, the papacy was at rock The Papal States had been swept away and Rome seized by the revolutionary French armies. With cardinals scattered across Europe and the next papal election uncertain, even if Catholicism survived, it seemed the papacy was finished.
In this gripping narrative of religious and political history, Paul Collins tells the improbable success story of the last 220 years of the papacy, from the unexalted death of Pope Pius VI in 1799 to the celebrity of Pope Francis today. In a strange contradiction, as the papacy has lost its physical power -- its armies and states -- and remained stubbornly opposed to the currents of social and scientific consensus, it has only increased its influence and political authority in the world.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published March 27, 2018
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582 people want to read
About the author
Paul Collins
17 books4 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Paul Collins is an Australian religious author.
Born in the then very working class suburb of Richmond in the city of Melbourne, Australia on 12 August 1940, Paul Collins is an historian, broadcaster and writer. His parents, Veronica and Michael Collins, ran corner shops that were ‘open all hours’. Educated in Catholic primary schools and at the Christian Brothers College, Victoria Parade, East Melbourne, Collins entered the junior seminary of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1956.
Professed as a religious in 1960 and ordained a Catholic priest in 1967, he served first (1968-1969) as a teacher at Downlands College in Toowoomba, Queensland. He then moved to the parish of Moonah in Hobart, Tasmania, where he was an assistant priest from 1970 to 1973. Moving to Sydney in 1974, he was appointed a lecturer (teaching church history and directing pastoral studies) at Saint Pauls National Seminary (1974-1977) in Kensington. From 1977 to1979 he was parish priest of Randwick in Sydney. He then went to Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts as a post graduate student (1979-1981), returning to Australia to work briefly as a research officer for the Catholic Social Welfare Commission (1981). He then returned to the United States as Deputy Director of Weber Center, Adrian, Michigan, where he taught theology, church history and ministry. He also briefly taught theology at Saint Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan.
In 1984 Collins began full time studies for a Ph.D. in history at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, graduating in 1989. He published his first book Mixed Blessings (Penguin) in 1986 while at the ANU and briefly taught Australian History at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1987. He has a Masters degree in theology (Th.M.) from Harvard University, and a Doctorate in Philosophy (Ph.D) in early Australian history from the ANU, and is a Fellow of Trinity College of Music, London in Speech and Drama.
For almost a decade from January 1988 he worked full-time in varying capacities in TV and radio with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. From 1993 to 1996 he was Specialist Editor Religion for the ABC. He also acted as co-ordinator of Radio National in Melbourne and for a brief period was acting-general manager of Radio National. For the first three years of the ABC TV program Compass (it began in 1988) Collins acted as a presenter, interviewer and commentator. From 1990 to 1995 he was the presenter of the program Insights on Radio National. He has also presented and participated in many programs on all ABC networks.
Between 2004 and 2006 Collins worked on a contract basis for the ABC presenting Sunday Spectrum on Sunday mornings on ABC TV. Some 150 episodes of this half-hour in-studio interview program were produced covering ethical, religious, faith and spirituality issues.
Since leaving the ABC full-time, he has continued to be called on as a commentator on Catholic affairs, the papacy, the Vatican, as well as environmental and population issues on ABC Radio and TV, SBS television and radio (where he acted as lead commentator on SBS Radio during World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008), the BBC, PBS in the United States, NHK Japan, and Danish and New Zealand TV, Sky TV News, as well as many commercial TV and radio stations in Australia. Collins covered the death of Pope John Paul II in April 2005, and from Rome the election of Benedict XVI as an English-speaking expert for many media outlets across the world.
He has written regularly for most of Australia’s leading newspapers and magazines, as well as for the London Tablet, The National Catholic Reporter in the United States and for several magazines in Germany and Aust
Paul Collins is an Australian religious author.
Born in the then very working class suburb of Richmond in the city of Melbourne, Australia on 12 August 1940, Paul Collins is an historian, broadcaster and writer. His parents, Veronica and Michael Collins, ran corner shops that were ‘open all hours’. Educated in Catholic primary schools and at the Christian Brothers College, Victoria Parade, East Melbourne, Collins entered the junior seminary of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1956.
Professed as a religious in 1960 and ordained a Catholic priest in 1967, he served first (1968-1969) as a teacher at Downlands College in Toowoomba, Queensland. He then moved to the parish of Moonah in Hobart, Tasmania, where he was an assistant priest from 1970 to 1973. Moving to Sydney in 1974, he was appointed a lecturer (teaching church history and directing pastoral studies) at Saint Pauls National Seminary (1974-1977) in Kensington. From 1977 to1979 he was parish priest of Randwick in Sydney. He then went to Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts as a post graduate student (1979-1981), returning to Australia to work briefly as a research officer for the Catholic Social Welfare Commission (1981). He then returned to the United States as Deputy Director of Weber Center, Adrian, Michigan, where he taught theology, church history and ministry. He also briefly taught theology at Saint Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan.
In 1984 Collins began full time studies for a Ph.D. in history at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, graduating in 1989. He published his first book Mixed Blessings (Penguin) in 1986 while at the ANU and briefly taught Australian History at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1987. He has a Masters degree in theology (Th.M.) from Harvard University, and a Doctorate in Philosophy (Ph.D) in early Australian history from the ANU, and is a Fellow of Trinity College of Music, London in Speech and Drama.
For almost a decade from January 1988 he worked full-time in varying capacities in TV and radio with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. From 1993 to 1996 he was Specialist Editor Religion for the ABC. He also acted as co-ordinator of Radio National in Melbourne and for a brief period was acting-general manager of Radio National. For the first three years of the ABC TV program Compass (it began in 1988) Collins acted as a presenter, interviewer and commentator. From 1990 to 1995 he was the presenter of the program Insights on Radio National. He has also presented and participated in many programs on all ABC networks.
Between 2004 and 2006 Collins worked on a contract basis for the ABC presenting Sunday Spectrum on Sunday mornings on ABC TV. Some 150 episodes of this half-hour in-studio interview program were produced covering ethical, religious, faith and spirituality issues.
Since leaving the ABC full-time, he has continued to be called on as a commentator on Catholic affairs, the papacy, the Vatican, as well as environmental and population issues on ABC Radio and TV, SBS television and radio (where he acted as lead commentator on SBS Radio during World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008), the BBC, PBS in the United States, NHK Japan, and Danish and New Zealand TV, Sky TV News, as well as many commercial TV and radio stations in Australia. Collins covered the death of Pope John Paul II in April 2005, and from Rome the election of Benedict XVI as an English-speaking expert for many media outlets across the world.
He has written regularly for most of Australia’s leading newspapers and magazines, as well as for the London Tablet, The National Catholic Reporter in the United States and for several magazines in Germany and Aust
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 31, 2017
An interesting idea that starts by exploring the development of papal power but turns into a potted history (and somewhat political evaluation) of recent popes. The thread of the main idea just about aurvives to the end but frays as Collins calls for an unsurprising laundry list of reforms to the Church and papacy.
Worth the read for some behind-the-scenes of the maneuvering at Vatican II and papal diplomacy.
Worth the read for some behind-the-scenes of the maneuvering at Vatican II and papal diplomacy.
July 4, 2018
I became a little fixated after Easter on understanding Catholic structures and history a little better. This book focuses on popes over the last several centuries, mixing in quite a bit of other church politics and theory about centralized authority versus the "body" of the church. I struggled a bit with the details of how the papal infrastructure had been organized and evolved over time, as well as with keeping track of the various papal lieutenants and opponents, but I learned a lot. Collins has a point of view, too, and that's helpful in hearing how his arguments come together. Not a light read, but I started to look forward to accomplishing a few pages each night.
June 8, 2018
Excellent history and analysis of role of the pope from 1799-present day.
What I found fascinating was how much the role of pope changed. I thought Mr. Collins' observation about popes during my lifetime are surprising deep. His insights into Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Paul the VI explained a lot for me. Enjoyed his observations about Pope Saint John the 23rd who still is my favorite pope in my lifetime so far.
What I found fascinating was how much the role of pope changed. I thought Mr. Collins' observation about popes during my lifetime are surprising deep. His insights into Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Paul the VI explained a lot for me. Enjoyed his observations about Pope Saint John the 23rd who still is my favorite pope in my lifetime so far.
May 15, 2018
Ábsolute Power” is author Paul Collins’ interpretation of Papal History from 1799 to the present in which he critiques the concentration of power in the Popes’ hands.
The tale commences with the death of Pope Pius VI, a prisoner of Napoleon by whom the Papal States had been occupied. Although many were thinking that the long Petrine line was finally extinguished, after a six-month interregnum a conclave in Vienna elected Pius VII who re-established Church authority in the wake of the French Revolution and began the rise of the Papacy to unprecedented prestige and influence. An extensive discussion of the personalities and issues of that era shed light on political as well as ecclesiastical history. Developments and Papacies during the rest of the 19th century move fairly quickly although considerable ink is devoted to Pope Pius IX, the longest reigning Pope of all.
From Pius IX through Francis, Collins examines the personalities and issues of each Pope and the events of his tenure. A final assessment of each concludes the narrative of his reign. Recent Popes are evaluated in light of how they, in the author’s opinion, influenced Vatican II and carried out, or undermined, its teachings. Several times while reading I was reminded of things my friend and history professor, Rev. William B. Faherty, S.J., told me, particularly about the investigations of St. Pius X and the claim that Pope John Paul II and his Curia reversed much of Vatican II.
This book is decent history but clearly advances the author’s point of view. From this work I glean that Collins is in favor a restoration of power to bishops and national conferences of bishops and is critical of Popes who accumulated power in Rome and in their own persona. At times he presents his own views on issues such as human sexuality as “right” versus Papal error and delves into what I consider to be personal preferences such as the translation of the Bible used in English masses. I think he overplays positions as clearly right (his) and wrong (Popes’) that were explored and decided by the hierarchy. It cannot be overlooked that the author left the priestly ministry to carry on the struggle for change in the Church through critical literature that he could not effect through his priesthood. I think that “Absolute Power” is a worthwhile historical read but its subjective evaluations should be viewed as conversation starters rather than final words.
The tale commences with the death of Pope Pius VI, a prisoner of Napoleon by whom the Papal States had been occupied. Although many were thinking that the long Petrine line was finally extinguished, after a six-month interregnum a conclave in Vienna elected Pius VII who re-established Church authority in the wake of the French Revolution and began the rise of the Papacy to unprecedented prestige and influence. An extensive discussion of the personalities and issues of that era shed light on political as well as ecclesiastical history. Developments and Papacies during the rest of the 19th century move fairly quickly although considerable ink is devoted to Pope Pius IX, the longest reigning Pope of all.
From Pius IX through Francis, Collins examines the personalities and issues of each Pope and the events of his tenure. A final assessment of each concludes the narrative of his reign. Recent Popes are evaluated in light of how they, in the author’s opinion, influenced Vatican II and carried out, or undermined, its teachings. Several times while reading I was reminded of things my friend and history professor, Rev. William B. Faherty, S.J., told me, particularly about the investigations of St. Pius X and the claim that Pope John Paul II and his Curia reversed much of Vatican II.
This book is decent history but clearly advances the author’s point of view. From this work I glean that Collins is in favor a restoration of power to bishops and national conferences of bishops and is critical of Popes who accumulated power in Rome and in their own persona. At times he presents his own views on issues such as human sexuality as “right” versus Papal error and delves into what I consider to be personal preferences such as the translation of the Bible used in English masses. I think he overplays positions as clearly right (his) and wrong (Popes’) that were explored and decided by the hierarchy. It cannot be overlooked that the author left the priestly ministry to carry on the struggle for change in the Church through critical literature that he could not effect through his priesthood. I think that “Absolute Power” is a worthwhile historical read but its subjective evaluations should be viewed as conversation starters rather than final words.
September 18, 2018
This is a history of the papacy from the death of Pope Pius VI in 1799 to the unfinished papacy of Pope Francis. So the papacy in the nineteenth century, the twentieth century and the first decades of the twenty first century.
Pope Pius VI died as a prisoner of Napoleon and was buried in unconsecrated ground as a citizen of the French secular state. The papacy was almost extinguished but the nineteenth century popes gradually clawed back power and set the office up as an authoritarian presence. Paul Collins places them clearly in the history of their period, mainly European history. There were setbacks. The Risorgimento and the loss of the Papal States, the Concordat with Mussolini and two European Wars eroded papal temporal power but authoritarian popes cemented papal power over Catholics.
Twentieth Century popes have had to adjust to mass media, radio then TV then mass international travel and now instant communications through the internet.
I was interested in finding out about the 19thC popes who were unknown to me and the early 20thC popes. But I was impatient with the finicky theology and preoccupations. I was surprised at my interest when we moved into the papacy of John XXIII and those who followed. There is a little bit of behind the scenes stories and it is fascinating. Pope John Paul II doesn’t stand up well to scrutiny. My feelings entirely. Although his immense importance is acknowledged. And there is an interesting analysis of the problems and possible ways forward for Pope Francis.
Altogether an interesting book covering one aspect of the history of the last 220 years.
Pope Pius VI died as a prisoner of Napoleon and was buried in unconsecrated ground as a citizen of the French secular state. The papacy was almost extinguished but the nineteenth century popes gradually clawed back power and set the office up as an authoritarian presence. Paul Collins places them clearly in the history of their period, mainly European history. There were setbacks. The Risorgimento and the loss of the Papal States, the Concordat with Mussolini and two European Wars eroded papal temporal power but authoritarian popes cemented papal power over Catholics.
Twentieth Century popes have had to adjust to mass media, radio then TV then mass international travel and now instant communications through the internet.
I was interested in finding out about the 19thC popes who were unknown to me and the early 20thC popes. But I was impatient with the finicky theology and preoccupations. I was surprised at my interest when we moved into the papacy of John XXIII and those who followed. There is a little bit of behind the scenes stories and it is fascinating. Pope John Paul II doesn’t stand up well to scrutiny. My feelings entirely. Although his immense importance is acknowledged. And there is an interesting analysis of the problems and possible ways forward for Pope Francis.
Altogether an interesting book covering one aspect of the history of the last 220 years.
March 1, 2020
Highly interesting content but it is written in a way that I personally found hard to follow. As a non native English speaker I usually handle 99% of books in English without any major issues but this one had quite a few words that I couldn't quite wrap my head around (and often several of them in the same sentence).
I would have loved to spend more time with the book but I think the language of it made it harder for me to remember much of its content. Nontheless, it has given me some very interesting insight into church politics and papal power and how/why they changed within the last 200 years.
If you are interested in this topic and do not shy away from a more complex reading I can definitely recommend it!
I would have loved to spend more time with the book but I think the language of it made it harder for me to remember much of its content. Nontheless, it has given me some very interesting insight into church politics and papal power and how/why they changed within the last 200 years.
If you are interested in this topic and do not shy away from a more complex reading I can definitely recommend it!
December 10, 2017
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Incredible research into a subject many outside of the Catholic church may not be all that familiar with prior to reading this book. I know that I was not that well versed in the power struggle of the papacy. This book was masterfully researched and thorough in the exploration of the subject. This is a must read for anyone with an affinity for Eurpoean/world history or Catholicism.
Incredible research into a subject many outside of the Catholic church may not be all that familiar with prior to reading this book. I know that I was not that well versed in the power struggle of the papacy. This book was masterfully researched and thorough in the exploration of the subject. This is a must read for anyone with an affinity for Eurpoean/world history or Catholicism.
January 1, 2019
Paul Collins does an excellent job of tracing the papacy from its low point in 1799 when Pius VI died as an effective prisoner of Napoleon to the modern papacy where Francis is viewed as a strong voice of moral leadership. Collins acknowledges his biases and is open about his feelings about several of the modern pontiffs. He really likes John XXIII, but was a bit unhappy with the canonization of Pius X.
June 20, 2018
interesting
August 25, 2018
good history
interesting presentation
interesting presentation
January 2, 2021
An interesting history but Collins' ideology seeps through at times, compromising the book's academic worth. It was a nice, engaging read, however.
Read
December 17, 2017Review forthcoming in Publisher's Weekly.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews