IN THE COURTS OF THREE POPES

A firsthand account of one layperson’s service in the Vatican.

Harvard Law professor Glendon offers an autobiographical account of her years working with and in the Vatican. She begins in 1995, when she led the papal delegation to the U.N.’s Conference on Women in Beijing. This and other service, mostly under the papacy of John Paul II, led to Glendon’s term as Ambassador to the Holy See during the last year of the George W. Bush administration. This period included Pope Benedict XVI’s only visit to the U.S., in April 2008. Under Pope Francis, the author was named to a commission to evaluate the infamous Vatican Bank, a lengthy and grueling process. These and other experiences form the setting for the narrative, which is a mixed bag—at times insightful, other times dull, and in some instances frustrating. The author is an almost complete apologist for the office of the papacy and a staunch defender of her church, which seems to blunt her criticisms of the church’s many flaws. For instance, though Glendon does admit that the Vatican “is a most unusual court, with many lords and few ladies,” she glances over her personal challenges as a woman, and of women in general, in that court. Usually, she prefers to speak optimistically about Catholic ideals regarding women. Likewise, Glendon’s reaction to the clergy sexual abuse crisis is almost shockingly cavalier; aside from a brief mention, the topic is essentially ignored. Packed with details, some meaningful and others bewildering, the well-connected author also drops names throughout—from Eunice Kennedy Shriver, to Henry Kissinger, to Richard John Neuhaus, to “Barack Obama, whom I recalled as a likable young man in my first-year property class at Harvard.”

Useful as a document for academics and historians of Christianity, but not a first choice for lay readers.