When in Rome Book

: The Vatican: one of the oldest, most powerful, and secretive establishments in the world. But what is it really like? American religious affairs journalist Robert Hutchinson moved to Rome for a year, with his wife and three small children, to try to get to the heart of the Roman Catholic Church. When in Rome is the fascinating story of his investigation.This is no dry history of the Church, no dull catalogue of hierarchies. What makes this book so enjoyable is that it is a travelogue, a journal of a personal journey of discovery, telling of the delights and the frustrations of the author's exploration of Rome and his attempts to find out more about the centre of the Roman Catholic Church. Rome is a complicated, cluttered, clamorous city, the centre of its own universe. It's intensely bureaucratic; to visit anywhere, to meet anyone, it seems that dozens of forms have to be filled in. And journalists in particular are regarded with suspicion.But Hutchinson perseveres. He doesn't manage to get to many top officials, but he has fascinating conversations with all sorts of other people, from an outrageous character who is the Vatican's official Latin expert, to the tailors who make cardinals' outfits; he gets into the Vatican Archives and the Vatican Observatory; he even goes to Handel's Messiah and sits five feet away from the pope. This is a fun book about Rome, full of fascinating, often scurrilous details from the history of the Vatican. --David V BarrettRead More