A rare firsthand account of the three popes who worked to modernize the Catholic Church—and to evangelize the modern world—from a renowned international lawyer, Harvard law professor, and former ambassador to the Vatican

“Mary Ann Glendon’s book joyfully, and with humility, brings us inside her deft, grace-filled, and brilliant public diplomacy career.”—Mike Pompeo, former U.S. secretary of state

For twenty centuries, the Catholic Church has radically shaped world history—and survived it. In the decades following the Second Vatican Council, three popes have carried forward this legacy, striving to lead the Church and its governing body—the last absolute monarchy of the West—into the modern world.

With In the Courts of Three Popes, accomplished diplomat, international lawyer, and Harvard professor Mary Ann Glendon gives readers a rare inside look at the papacies of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. She shares her role in key developments in the Church’s recent history, like the Church entering the third millennium, in Pope John Paul II’s words, on its knees in penance for failures such as clergy sex abuse, or in leading the way for lay women to hold positions of power in the Church. Glendon illuminates the issues vexing the Church today: the place of faith in secular politics, relating the Church to other religions, clericalism and the power of laypeople, and corruption at the Vatican Bank and within the Roman Curia.

Glendon provides a one-of-a-kind analysis of the inner workings of the Holy See, showing readers that, despite its many failings, the Catholic Church is a living, breathing community. Behind the Church’s doctrines and policies and institutions lie people, personalities, aspirations, and relationships that still promise to transform lives.

"A rare firsthand account of Vatican politics as Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis each endeavored to lead the Catholic Church into the modern world-from an accomplished diplomat, lawyer, and Harvard professor. "In my years of service to the Holy See, I was a stranger in a rather strange land-a layperson in a culture dominated by clergy, an American woman in an environment that was largely male and Italian, and a citizen of a constitutional republic in one of the world's last absolute monarchies." Harvard professor Mary Ann Glendon sheds light on some of the most vexing issues in the Catholic Church today, from the work to protect women's rights internationally, to responding to clergy sexual abuse, to the corruption of the Vatican Bank and Roman Curia. Readers will see a side of popes and prelates rarely seen from Glendon's account of these three papacies, and they will be inspired by her efforts to share in the Holy See's work for a better Church and a better world. It is her hope that lay Catholics especially will find her account of the ups and downs of her daily work in the Holy See helpful in their own struggles to be "salt, light and leaven" during this time of turbulence in the Church and society"--