Working in archives and libraries from Dublin to Turin, I have published groundbreaking research on how religion and politics have clashed and intertwined in Europe since the sixteenth century. My first book ‘Between Popes, Inquisitors and Princes’ reveals how the early Jesuits collaborated with the Holy See and crowned heads of Europe – often undercover – to fight heresy in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. I am now writing the first-ever account of how the presence of the papacy has shaped the history of Rome, from the time of Saint Peter to our own day.

I welcome invitations to write and speak about my research, as well as my experiences as a historian and educator. To date, my writing has been published in prestigious academic journals and popular magazines such as History Today and the Catholic Herald. I have given lectures and spoken at events in the U.K., Belgium, Canada, Italy and Spain.