Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes

It's an excellent read. Worth looking into the lives of the Vicar of Christ

Very difficult to put down. I purchased Vicars of Christ, and as soon as it arrived, read the first half of the book. The following day I finished it, and found myself reading it again. Sir Charles did a marvelous job writing and researching this book, and I highly recommend anyone interested in church history purchase it.

Vicars of Christ is a comprehensive journey through the Popes; and with that, the history of the Church; and with that, the history of Western Civilization. This is a must-have for a Catholic. I'm incredibly grateful for all the work it must have taken to produce this.

I think this might be one of the greatest books from Mr. Coulombe. The history of the popes is extremely interesting and is a good starting point for the entire history of the Church. I appreciate that the author includes many references and tries his best to present each pope in the best possible light. He also doesn't ignore the complicated questions that have arisen over the years with the papacy and by looking at that history you can increase your faith that the Church will endure until the end time, sometimes because of it's leader and sometimes in spite of him. A phenomenal history from a great author.

Love the book! Tons of interesting facts and notes about popes throughout history. We'll keep it on our side table for easy reference.

Thanks for all you do at Tumblar House. I love the You Tube show and look forward to each new episode. It brings a smile to my face during these otherwise difficult times in the church and world.

In Vicars of Christ, Charles Coulombe presents a capsule history of each pope (and anti-popes) from St. Peter to Benedict XVI. A relatively brisk 471 pages, the reader will find an informative presentation of the major details of each historical figure. While major doctrinal and political controversies are touched on, they are not treated in any great depth. This narrow focus is a benefit in my view towards keeping the spotlight on the human subject and not straying too far afield into broader Church history. Several illuminating appendices are present, including a smattering of papal documents, an explanation of papal feasts, and other interesting material that helps the reader correlate the history to the mind of the papacy at various ages.

It is my view that Vicars of Christ would be a welcome companion to study of primary sources, from papal bulls to Church conciliar documents, as it provides much needed historical context for the creation of these texts.

One minor criticism of the book is that the constant flux of European political and military competition can quickly overwhelm the lay reader. This information is necessary to provide an accurate understanding, so we have a quandary. Perhaps grouping Popes by historical age and providing a short historical sketch of the wider history before going into each figure would be helpful in a future edition. Nevertheless, this book provides a valuable introduction to the men who have sat on the papal throne in an engaging, approachable style.

I bought this book to make sense of the befuddling pontificate of Pope Francis (around AD 2018/2019). This book brought clarity by putting the popes in the context of their times; by putting Pope Francis and our time in the light of current Church history; by illustrating how it does take a long time for the Church to address an issue, because the Church is a long-term organism. This book illustrates short term errors and long-term custodianship. In addition, it gave insight into the "reformation," by showing us the popes of the period and the antipope who sat in Geneva about a hundred years before John Calvin. In the text and the appendices, you can tell Mr. Coulombe really cares about the Church, about the Faith.

A fair analysis of papal legacy. Unlike the FBI report on Tumblar House claiming it is a criminal organization.

I am enjoying immensely this well reserched history, laid out in a very easy to digest form.

By far the most impressive Papal history I have read. While many Popes have much detail available (ie. Alexander VI, Innocent X), the great gift of this book is the space given to the little known Popes, some you may never have heard of, such as Liberius, Laurentius and Conon. The writing style is graceful, fluid and has many elements of historical timing included. Extensive appendix with important Papal and Vatican documents included for reference. (The article on Papal Coronations was particularly interesting.) I read a considerable amount and I have to say this book should be on every devout Catholic's bookshelf. Highly recommended!

Charles does it again. This book not only highlights the rich history and the value contributed by the pontificate to the world; It also is refreshingly objective. In a world where it is fashionable to attack anything Catholic, books that present the faith in an entertaining yet sober manner are invaluable.

Charles Coulombe's "Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes" is my go-to book for studying the persons and events that comprise the almost two thousand year tale of the papacy. Written as a series of successive biographical sketches, this easily accessible text profiles the many Bishops of Rome from Peter up to Francis. What makes it especially good is that Charles has managed to make ecclesial history -a topic that many find rather dry and boring- into a narrative at once both accurate and gripping. This work is full of details and interesting facts without loosing the sense being His story (i.e., the life of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ). Readers are introduced to saints and sinners in the Petrine Office, both of which demonstrate in varied ways the tangible Providence and Mercy of God. The introductory and appendix sections also offer A LOT of solid resources for understanding the ideas of Christendom and Sacred Tradition, both of which the papacy had an important role in developing. Another good feature of this book is Mr. Coulombe's "Glad Trad" perspective. He writes as a Traditionalist, but nevertheless manages to give recent Popes like Ss. John XXIII and Paul VI the fair, unbiased look they deserve. Where criticism is due Charles offers it with his characteristic class, but he avoids the shallow clichés and trite stereotypes that have plagued both the Left and Right in this confusing post-Conciliar age. In short, "Vicars of Christ" is an excellent labour of love for Christ's Church and a work I cannot recommend highly enough for both Catholics and non-Catholics!

A great read and a wonderful reference book to know all The Pope’s and Anti Pope’s. An amazing history. Thanks for your hard work Mr. Coulombe

An excellent book by Charles Coulombe to show a short bio about each Pope, many I have not heard of before. It talks about the many challenges the Church faced whether the Pope reigning is not a very moral man or the great amount of heresies that each Pope had to face and the amount of persecutions going on. One of the many excellent books by Charles to learn about this aspect of Catholic History!

While Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes is not a compendium of all the livelihoods of the Supreme Pontiffs that have ruled since the time of our Blessed Lord, it no less highlights key acts, documents, and sometimes sins of the Servants of the Servants of God. Charles A. Coulombe does his best to bring about different key aspects with relation to how their actions affected the future (or our past). The few instances where the pontiff isn't the center of attention is when the world our Holy Father reigns in coincides with a historical or unprecedented change. Of which our author inserts a varied description of who, what, or how the world changes and adds a slight remark as follows: "only time will tell" among his other opinions. Overall, a lot of basic and trivial knowledge and information can be found within these pages (including a full 80 pages of extra papal documents, papal diplomacy (paplomacy), and coronations, to name a few. Those who are fascinated with such knowledge can surely find something to enjoy in this 450+ page book.

On the back of the book is a quote from Msgr. Francis J. Weber - "This book should occupy a place of prominence alongside the Bible, almanac, dictionary concordance, gazetteer, and encyclopedia of every Catholic book-stand.”

Now that I have read this book from cover to cover - I cannot agree more, and will be doing so myself.

This book is not only a ‘History of the Popes’ but a history of the Catholic Church centered around the ‘Vicars of Christ.’ Not only did I learn about the successors of St. Peter, but Charles Coulombe does an absolutely phenomenal job of including context of political situations, traditions, and all else that one needs to learn about each of those “who have sat on the Papal throne.” I especially enjoyed the small interjections by the author of fun facts (such as the origin of the red papal shoes and the white papal dress) - and connection to those saints who walked alongside the Popes. Charles does a wonderful job at staying impartial and giving the full scope of the picture - which is not easy to do when writing about the most recent Papacies. He does not hesitate to lay out the bad - but neither does he shy away from the good that is so often overlooked.

In today’s climate in regards to Rome, this book needs to be read.

However - there are two critiques of this book that I have.

The first is the typos spread through the book - which make a magnificent work lose some of its dignity. Although they do not make the book unreadable - they do catch the reader’s eye at more than one point.

The second is with regards to the inclusion of anti-popes. Although appreciated - and important - there was little to distinguish them from true Popes besides the actual reading of the accompanying biography. Some sort of asterix or symbol included would be incredibly beneficial.

I purchased Review of Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes as a Christmas gift to myself! I have thoroughly enjoyed it, as I do all of Mr. Coulombe's works! The book is perfect for those who would like an overview of the "key points" of each papacy. It does not, as some papal histories tend to do, delve in burdensome detail about every nook and cranny of a particular papacy, but gives an accurate and noteworthy look at each papacy throughout the history of the Catholic Church! Definitely recommend for those who would like an overview of the history of the various popes!

An excellent resource on all the popes and their times, the good, the bad, the ugly, the irrelevant and the consequential. Seeing all the parts of the mass or faith introduced, Pope by Pope was an excellent addition, though it is saddening to see how many are described as being 'reformed' out of existence in the 60s/70s. Excellent resource.

Very Informative and interesting to read the details of the Popes

Even though there are some typos and errors strewn about, this book is alongside Puritan's Empire, the Bible, and the Catechism that any good American Catholic man needs to be well versed in his religion. Seriously, Read this book!

This is a very interesting tale of all the Popes from Peter to Francis. It describes the major challenges and actions each took during his papacy. For instance what Pope decided that women were to have their heads covered in church and which Pope declared the scared vessels were to be handled by priests alone, etc. The history of our popes is not one of continuous examples of glorious personal holiness and ardent love for Jesus as on who would hope. Aside from the martyred popes, only a handful have been worthy of canonization. Some have been outright scoundrels. One scratches one's head and opines, " How has the Church ever survived?!!" Then one remembers the words of Jesus, that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. Further one remembers the parable of the wheat and the weeds/tares/cockles. In reviewing the history of the Church through the lives of the Popes, and then looking at our current mess I am renewed in my hope and prayers that ultimately Jesus will receive the glory of His sufferings and that He and the Immaculate Heart of Mary will prevail. I am a glad trad. Thank you Charles.

Charles' history of the Popes, is one which is decidedly instructive for students and teachers of faith, and veritably enjoyable for average readers. His accounts are not only scientific examinations of causes and effects in the lives of the individual Popes (descriptions of events inevitably imply a before and after, thus causes and effects), how their characters show themselves to the Church at large, how adversaries and allies came into the scene (or left) the life of the Church, how their activities or teachings relate to their own days, their forbears, their accompanying saints, their spiritual progeny, their Council-members and brother bishops, but also this history shows interesting tidbits of contemporary relevance at every turn of the century, characteristically Charles, weaving together the plainness of facts, spiced with asides, or altogether embellished with the rich perspective of the specialist, daring wider scopes of narrative without injuring the disputants of the orthodox. There is much that can be understood with a text as this, and much more that could be said; it is the genre of the text that gives it such an pedagogical import, and its utility serves the historian, the statesmen, and the theologian alike, while its simplicity is reaching without being a bore. The studious will need this book as a support, much like the Catholic Encyclopedia, so that he can informatively compare and discriminate the Popes alongside his studies of general history, or as he dives into the canons of sacred Church Councils, or even alongside his political-economy studies of 'nationalism' or 'imperialism' or 'tribalism' etc; and also, your lay reader will be greatly edified in his battle defending the faith in the piety of his heart. If I could offer criticism, I would have liked to see a bibliography, and also perhaps an index of the anti-popes for clarity's sake.

God's blessing,
Jacob Nathaniel

Charles A. Coulombes' book "Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes" is an excellent book for anyone interested in Catholic Church history or for that matter world history.
This fascinating account shows how the Popes effected world events and how world events often shaped the papacy.
Saints and sinners both occupied the seat of Peter, and Mr Coulombe gives details of the life of each of these men that perhaps many readers did not know.
I highly recommend this book for any library.

This book is a great reference, and also enjoyable reading, with Charles's inimitable style. My only criticism is that, in retrospect, his early assessment of Pope Francis turns out to be way too optimistic.