The Catholic Church guided the West for centuries, overcoming enemies from Nero to Napoleon. So why did she slip into scandals and irrelevance in just a few decades staring from the 1950s? And why did Christian Europe lose its glory and its faith so quickly after triumphing over the Nazi tyranny in 1945? In making its case that World War II caused Vatican II and the de-Christianization of the West, this provocative and well-researched history explores: - The bitter struggle fought by Pope Pius XI, Benito Mussolini, and the modernists in the interwar Europe - How a cabal of heretics exploited the anti-Fascist resistance to infiltrate the Church - The role the American military played in the rise of modern mafia - Why an Italian parliamentary election was crucial to Giovanni Montini becoming Pope Paul VI - The influence of Karl Marx on modern globalism - And so much more...