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Rome is a city of echoes, where the voice of the people has chimed and clashed with the words of princes, emperors, and insurgents to ring down the centuries. In this new book, I tell the story of the Romans’ longest standing figurehead and interlocutor: the pope, illuminating how his presence has transformed the lives, stones, and fate of the city of Rome.   CITY OF ECHOES: A NEW HISTORY OF ROME, ITS POPES AND ITS PEOPLE will be published by Icon (UK) and Pegasus (USA) in September 2023. Emerging as the anonymous leader of a marginal cult in the humblest quarters of the city, less [...]

You can read this review in 'History: Reviews of New Books', Volume 49 Issue 3. The book is a superb contribution to the history of early modern Catholicism and the religious and social history of Italy.

In May's issue of History Today, I discuss the political power of the papacy, and how far popes could really influence the actions of early modern Catholics. Many secular leaders of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries feared that Catholics might rebel with a nod from Rome. But this potent myth was often far from the political reality.

Earlier this month I featured on Dan Snow's History Hit, the most popular history podcast in the UK. You can listen to Dan and I discuss the medieval, Spanish and Roman Inquisitions here:

On the History Hit website, you can now read an article in which I give my top ten facts on the Jesuits: from the conversion of Ignatius Loyola to the election of the Pope Francis, via the Chinese Rites controversy. You can read the article here: https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-the-jesuits/

In a new article for the Catholic Herald, I considered what we might learn from Katarina Jagellonica, the Queen Consort to John III of Sweden. Faithful, determined and learned, Katarina is an unlikely but inspiring model. You can read the article in the magazine or here: https://catholicherald.co.uk/a-wife-who-witnessed/

You can read my article on the turbulent history of Christianity in Sweden, from the 9th century to our own day, in the October issue of the Catholic Herald or here: https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-rise-and-fall-of-swedish-catholicism/. The article accompanied a piece by Cardinal Anders Arborelius: the first ever Swedish cardinal. Together, the two texts will bring you bang up-to-date on the fate of Catholicism in the country.

It is easy to view historical figures as sepia-toned strangers or faceless names on a page. Hugh Trevor-Roper’s great gift as an historian was his ability to see his subjects animated, in vivid colour and profoundly relevant to his own time. This is patent throughout the essays in ‘Hugh Trevor Roper: The Historian’, a volume edited by Blair Worden, re-released as a paperback a few weeks ago. Across the volume quotations from Trevor-Roper’s works showcase Trevor-Roper’s intimacy with the past. Considering how the sixteenth-century humanist Erasmus would be treated in the modern age, Trevor-Roper declared that whilst the sixteenth century had ‘accused him of levity, [...]

In the first ever monthly edition of the Catholic Herald, I review Mario Levi's new book and ask whether today's most sinister science deniers are religious or political zealots.

You can read my review of Lynda Telford's new book on 'Women and the Vatican' online at the Catholic Herald. In this review I ask if the picture of oppression and scandal painted by Telford is a faithful image of female influence in the Catholic Church or if her history has been marred by cynicism. Read the full article here: https://catholicherald.co.uk/catholic-women-were-not-all-underdogs/