Author Description

What's the pope's salary? Has a pope ever been impeached? Who was Pope Joan? Have there ever been married popes? Which pope was exhumed for a public trial? Find the answer to these and nearly 200 other questions in this vast cornucopia of interesting, unusual, and intriguing facts and minutiae about the seat of the Roman Catholic religion (Vatican City) and the popes who have reigned there. Drawing on almost three decades of experience as a journalist covering Italy and in particular the Vatican, Lo Bello entertains the reader on every page with trivia and fascinating anecdotes. The book also features more in-depth Vaticaniain essays that explore such topics as: • exorcism and the Vatican • the process of making a saint • the Vatican's involvement in the film industry • "la Popessa" (the most powerful woman in Vatican history) Appendices provide both a glossary of Vatican terminology and significant dates in Catholic Church history. Nino Lo Bello is the author of ten previous books, including the New York Times bestseller The Vatican Empire, Vatican U.S.A., European Detours, The Vatican Papers, Nino Lo Bello's Guide to Offbeat Europe, and Nino Lo Bello's Guide to the Vatican. For eight years, Lo Bello was Italian correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune and for more than a quarter-century served as special correspondent to the International Herald Tribune.