The Time Keepers: A Vatican Novel (Volume 1)

By Ronald Bruce Gies

Pope John XXIV, the elderly caretaker of the Catholic Church, awakens from a supposed stroke and decides to remake the Church in the image of its "glory days." Most of the College of Cardinals would like to think that means its medieval period of power and prestige; but Pope John is thinking of a simpler time, a dozen centuries earlier, when the hierarchy didn't get in the way of the faithful. When he was first elected he received considerable blowback for his revolutionary ideas and began to question himself. Then he went on a Papal Tour of America and connected with the faithful. Pope John discovers that his world - and his job - aren't quite the way he had imagined. His long-time friend, the head of the Vatican Police, calls on an American FBI agent to help discover what's really going on inside the Vatican. Pope John keeps his friends close and his enemies closer. However the secret society, Custodes Tempes (the Time Keepers), appears to always be one step ahead. Why does the Catholic Church exist in its current form; and to what lengths will some people go to keep it just the way it is? The Time Keepers, the first in The Vatican Series of novels are written to entertain, while exploring some of the struggles of the Catholic Church in the modern age. Ron's ambition is to encourage dialogue on some of these issues via a non-threatening medium - the mystery novel. In each of the characters we meet well-developed individuals, who wrestle with (or ignore) the complexity of the issues of religion in their lives.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1482587408
• ISBN13: 9781482587401
• Release Date: March 2013
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 392 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.9" x 5.3"