Vatican watching

If you are looking for some comprehensive information on the inner workings of the Vatican institutions we recommend the following sources:

Blogs

There are two official information sites of the Vatican itself:
- NEWS.VA, the official Vatican news site. In many langauges.
- The Holy See, background information as well as news, also in 7 langauges.

Best websites for independent journalistic information:
- John L. Allen of the National Catholic Reporter: All Things Catholic
- John Thavis, former CNS brureau chief in Rome johnthavis.com/blog
- Sandro Magister of the Italian daily Repubblica: Chiesa.espressonline.it, in English, French, Spanish and Italian.

Books

John L. Allen wrote several books on Pope Benedict, on Opus Dei, and more recently:
- The Future Church: How Ten Trends are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church, 2012, and
- All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks, 2004

- John Thavis recent book is John Thavis, The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-The-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church, 2013

Older but stull full of useful information:
- Thomas Reese, Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church, 1998
- Peter Hebblethwaite was a leading British Vaticanologist, whodied in 1996. He wrote many works on the last popes. Still worthwhile is his In the Vatican, 1986 (not to be confused with The Vatican, a photobook with Fred Mayer)

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