Vatican Trilogy

The pope is dead and the corridors of the Vatican hum with intrigue as cardinals gather to elect his successor. The result is a surprise: the new pope is the youngest of them all, a bearded Ukrainian. The Shoes of the Fisherman is the moving story of Kiril I, recently released from 17 years in Siberian labor camps and haunted by his past. Not only is he the leader of a fractured Catholic Church, but he also finds he must confront his inquisitor and tormentor in order to avert another world war.

Pope Gregory XVII has spent a lifetime quietly serving the Church he loves-until he announces a prophecy so alarming that it threatens to tear the Vatican apart. Terrified, the Vatican cardinals imprison him in a monastery. Is he mad, as they believe, or is it all an elaborate plot? An old friend of the pope sets out on a risky quest to find out. On the way, he discovers the power of love and faith, while terrorists and politicians use every deadly and unholy means to stop him.

Iron-fisted Pope Leo XIV emerges from open heart surgery with the chilling realization that his reforms have devastated the Church. As he struggles to overcome the policies he himself put in place, he must battle enemies from within the Vatican, as well as Islamic terrorists determined to assassinate him. Amid political intrigue and counterespionage, his brilliant surgeon Salviati becomes a target too, along with Salviati's beautiful mistress, Tove, and her fragile daughter, as the plot builds to a dramatic climax. Lazarus completes Morris West's bestselling Vatican trilogy, following The Shoes of the Fisherman and The Clowns of God. It can also be read on its own as a gripping exploration of Church politics in a world of crises.