This ambitious book gives an account of the history of the Catholic Church from the French Revolution to the present. McGreevy argues convincingly that the French Revolution determined what the Church would be like till 1960. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy issued by the revolutionary government in 1790 required that citizens select their own bishops and priests. Monasteries were suppressed. The Mass had become illegal. Clergy and nuns had scattered. Pope Pius VI died in Valence, a prisoner of Napoleon. Many believed that he would be the last pope. The entire Roman apparatus of curia, cardinals, nuncios, and even…