GOD'S BANKERS

A 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 Gerald Posner.

Based on years of archival research and investigatory sleuthing, Posner shows with extraordinary precision how the Vatican has evolved from being a center of faith to becoming a center of money and finance. The book uncovers an eyebrow-raising account of money and power in perhaps the most influential organization in the history of the world. Posner also looks to the future to surmise if Pope Frances 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 uncontrollable financial quagmire.

The book has it all: a revelatory and astounding saga marked by poisoned business titans, murdered prosecutors, and mysterious deaths written off as 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 tensions of 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.

Gerald Posner is the author of eleven books, including New York Times bestsellers such as CASE CLOSED which was a finalist for the Pulitzer in History. The book includes an 8-page black-and-white photo insert.