Faith and leadership : the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church / Michael P. Riccards.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 601-602) and index.

The primitive church -- From bishop to pope (Peter to Leo the Great, 500 a.d.) -- The threats to orthodoxy -- Beyond the end of the empire, 500-800 -- The medieval papacy looks East -- Abuses and reform, 800-1000 -- The papal monarchy, 1000-1500 -- The worldly popes -- The Protestant Reformation -- The timidity of reform -- The Catholic Reformation -- The council as a reform movement -- Religious wars and religious repression -- The Enlightenment -- The church confronts the Leviathan -- The church and the ancien regime -- The emperor's attack on the papacy -- Pius IX: the first modern Pope -- Leo XIII: the soul of the industrial state -- Pius X: moods of piety and repression -- Benedict XV and the mad dogs of war -- Pius XI and the new men of violence -- Pius XII and the spiritual twilight of the West -- John XXII and the promise of aggiornamento -- Paul VI: the perils of aggiornamento -- John Paul II: the uneasy agenda of restoration -- Postscript: Benedict XVI.