Pope Fiction / Patrick Madrid

This book offers a tour-de-force refutation of 30 different biblical and historical arguments raised against the papacy. Using Scripture, Church history, and common sense (with a dash of wit added for good measure), Patrick Madrid explains why these commonly believed “pope fictions” simply don’t hold water.

Fr. Ray Ryland, a former Protestant minister and now a Catholic priest, says, “In a very readable style, Pope Fiction catalogs and refutes those fictions charitably and completely. Had it been available when I first began to be drawn to the Church, my journey home would have been years shorter.”

Catholic author David Hess praises its “amazing clarity and readability.”

Former Protestant minister Marcus Grodi (now Catholic and host of the popular EWTN show “The Journey Home”) describes Pope Fiction as “concise and complete with a welcome tinge of humor. I highly recommend this book to all those who are looking for truth. They’ll find it here.”

The myths and misconceptions about the papacy covered in Pope Fiction include:

• the persistent “Pope Joan” myth about a ninth-century female pope,
• the popes’ involvement in the Crusades and Spanish Inquisition,
• what the New Testament reveals about Simon Peter’s role in the early Christian Church,
• the attitude of the early Church toward the bishops of Rome,
• the scandal of bad popes,
• the Galileo Affair,
• the papacy’s track record on slavery,
• the Seventh-day Adventist myth about the bogus “Vicarius Filii Dei” papal “title,”
• historical issues pertaining to the papacy, specific examples of popes who allegedly taught error,
• the facts surrounding Pope Pius XII’s attitude toward the Jews during the Holocaust.

Arranged in 30 tightly focused chapters, Pope Fiction provides a balanced, comprehensive overview of the major arguments against the papacy and provides the biblical, historical and commonsense responses to those arguments. Pope Fiction is engaging and charitable, yet challenging and hard-hitting.