Reveals how the largest Sun Temple in the world, built according to Hermetic principles, is located at one of Christianity’s holiest sites: the Vatican • Shows how famous Renaissance philosophers and scientists called for a Hermetic reformation of Christianity by building a magical Temple of the Sun in Rome • Explains how the Vatican architect Bernini designed St. Peter’s Square to reflect heliocentric and Hermetic principles • Reveals how the design was masterminded by Bernini, Jesuit scholars, the mystical Queen Christine of Sweden, and several popes In 16th century Italy, in the midst of the Renaissance, two powerful movements took hold. The first, the Hermetic Movement, was inspired by an ancient set of books housed in the library of Cosimo de’ Medici and written by the Egyptian sage Hermes Trismegistus. The movement expounded the return of the “true religion of the world” based on a form of natural magic that could draw down the powers of the heavens and incorporate them into statues and physical structures. The other movement, the Heliocentric Movement launched by Copernicus, was a direct challenge to the Vatican’s biblical interpretation of a geocentric world system. Declared a heresy by the Pope, those who promoted it risked the full force of the Inquisition. Exploring the meeting point of these two movements, authors Robert Bauval and Chiara Hohenzollern reveal how the most outspoken and famous philosophers, alchemists, and scientists of the Renaissance, such as Giordano Bruno and Marsilio Ficino, called for a Hermetic reformation of the Christian religion by building a magical utopic city, an architectural version of the heliocentric system. Using contemporary documents and the latest cutting-edge theses, the authors show that this Temple of the Sun was built in Rome, directly in front of the Vatican’s Basilica of St. Peter. They explain how the Vatican architect Bernini designed St. Peter’s Square to reflect the esoteric principles of the Hermetica and how the square is a detailed representation of the heliocentric system. Revealing the magical architectural plan masterminded by the Renaissance’s greatest minds, including Bernini, Jesuit scholars, Queen Christine of Sweden, and several popes, the authors expose the ultimate heresy of all time blessed by the Vatican itself.

Some of the most portentous events in medieval history—the Cathar crusade, the persecution and mass burnings of heretics, the papal inquisition—fall between 1000 and 1250, when the Catholic Church confronted the threat of heresy with force. Moore’s narrative focuses on the motives and anxieties of elites who waged war on heresy for political gain.

Sure to be the subject of much discussion, this book takes a look at the post Vatican II approach to liturgy through the eyes of a man who says the Church has lost much and gained nothing through the promulgation of the "Novus Ordo" Mass. An accomplished novelist and writer, German author Martin Mosebach gives a plea for a return to the preconciliar Latin Rite, giving a persuasive and compelling argument against what he sees as a jarring break in tradition. Yet there is another way to approach the Liturgy. In his foreword, Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., points out the difference between Mosebach's approach and "those who, like myself, the Adoremus Society, and--I think I can assert this with confidence--Pope Benedict XVI, advocate a rereading and restructuring of the liturgical renewal intended by the Second Vatican Council, but in light of the Church's two-thousand-year tradition."

God is beyond time, but every person is firmly planted in it. History impacts us endlessly, including the ways we understand the church and its teachings. This has been the case since the time of the earliest believers. In History and Heresy, Joseph F. Kelly considers heresies and the historical forces that shaped them. In his customarily engaging style, he demonstrates that historical forces and human beings of particular historical eras play a major role in how both orthodoxy and heresy come into being and how they are understood. Far from reducing orthodoxy and heresy to historical forces, he shows rather that a grasp of the historical context of both is essential in understanding them and especially in determining what might be orthodox or heretical.

Well-documented story of the Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church. The second part of this work analyzes Vatican II and its effect on our world today. The turbulent history of the Catholic Church will come alive as the centuries unfold before the reader. God's tender care for His children amid life's storms and tumultuous times is evident and unmistakable.

Is the longevity of the Catholic Church what Rome says it is? Were Christ's Apostles the original Catholics? Did Mary the mother of Jesus really help her Son to redeem mankind? Was the Gospel Jesus left to His disciples incomplete and in need of many additions to perfect it? This book, written by a convert from Catholicism to biblical Christianity, puts the chief claims and doctrines of the Catholic religion under the divine light of God's Word; searches for them in the halls of history; combs through the writings of apostolic fathers for evidence of their veracity. Chapter by chapter, Scripture by Scripture, the facade of holiness and patristic authority is peeled away, and the true apostate nature of Catholicism is exposed. For evangelical Christians, this work is a gold mine of information about Catholic doctrines and how to deal with the deeply embedded beliefs of those who call themselves Roman Catholics. To the devout Catholic, this book will be either a source of enduring anger, or a bright neon arrow pointing to the eternal, soul-saving Word of God.

The New York Times–bestselling inside look at one of the world’s most powerful and mysterious institutions For more than twenty-five years, John Thavis held one of the most remarkable journalistic assignments in the world: reporting on the inner workings of the Vatican. In The Vatican Diaries, Thavis reveals Vatican City as a place struggling to define itself in the face of internal and external threats, where Curia cardinals fight private wars and sexual abuse scandals threaten to undermine papal authority. Thavis (author of The Vatican Prophecies: Investigating Supernatural Signs, Apparitions, and Miracles in the Modern Age) also takes readers through the politicking behind the election of Pope Francis and what we might expect from his papacy. The Vatican Diaries is a perceptive, compelling, and provocative account of this singular institution and will be of interest to anyone intrigued by the challenges faced by religion in an increasingly secularized world.