
God's Bankers
A History of Money and Power at the Vatican
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Narrated by:
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Tom Parks
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By:
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Gerald Posner
About this listen
A deeply reported, fast-paced exposé of the money and the cardinals-turned-financiers at the heart of the Vatican - the world's biggest, most powerful religious institution - from an acclaimed journalist with "exhaustive research techniques" (The New York Times).
From a master chronicler of legal and financial misconduct, a magnificent investigation nine years in the making, this book traces the political intrigue and inner workings of the Catholic Church. Decidedly not about faith, belief in God, or religious doctrine, this audiobook is about the church's accumulation of wealth and its byzantine entanglements with financial markets across the world. Told through 200 years of prelates, bishops, cardinals, and the Popes who oversee it all, Gerald Posner uncovers an eyebrow-raising account of money and power in perhaps the most influential organization in the history of the world.
God's Bankers has it all: a rare exposé and an astounding saga marked by poisoned business titans, murdered prosecutors, mysterious deaths of private investigators, and questionable suicides; a carnival of characters from Popes and cardinals, financiers and mobsters, kings and prime ministers; and a set of moral and political circumstances that clarify not only the church's aims and ambitions, but reflect the larger dilemmas of the world's more recent history. And Posner even looks to the future to surmise if Pope Francis can succeed where all his predecessors failed: to overcome the resistance to change in the Vatican's Machiavellian inner court and to rein in the excesses of its seemingly uncontrollable financial quagmire. Part thriller, part financial tell-all, this book shows with extraordinary precision how the Vatican has evolved from a foundation of faith to a corporation of extreme wealth and power.
©2015 Gerald Posner (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Recorded by arrangement with Simon & Schuster, Inc.People who viewed this also viewed...
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It gives on hope that pope Francis has made it a top priority to bring back the church to the initial teachings of humbleness and service. It remains to be seen if he can effect real lasting change
Scandalous and eye opening
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Money corrupts
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What am Eye-Opener!
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Great story and narration!
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An Institution has a terrible history
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Great read but pronunciation is off
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A fantastic book to read and remember
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Even setting aside pronunciation, the reader makes it sound like an episode of How Things Are Made. If it weren’t for the information, I would have bowed out. If you want to hear the wonders of someone pronouncing the same name FOUR different ways in the space of two minutes, for example, enjoy!
Unfathomable choice of reader for this important book.
Bad reader for a good book....
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Politics, Politics
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God's Bankers -a wow!
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