Prolific historian Roberto de Mattei unfurls the sail to help you navigate in tumultuous times through the stormy waters of worldly events, intellectual movements, apostasies, moral decay, divisions, and persecutions. In these reflections, de Mattei steers you on a voyage from the earliest centuries to the French Revolution, charting the course with fascinating historical details and true stories about key political figures and saints, masterfully relating them to our situation now.

In these stirring pages, you will learn:

• Who the real dissidents are -- past and present
• The witness of the early Christians and ways we can learn from them today
• The twin pillars of victory according to the vision of St. John Bosco
• The path to authentic reform and the heroic example of the saints throughout the ages
• How the Church rose above the waves amid crises, including schisms and revolutions

Despite the changing tides and pounding waves, you will discover ways the Church weathered storms with Scripture and Tradition as her compasses. You will behold how, in moments of gloom, when all seemed lost, the valor of Catholic heroes restored calm and announced the morning dawn.

Conspiracies and secret societies exist because man, wounded by Original Sin, is inclined to evil and his social nature leads him to unite with other men in carrying out evil plans. With typical precision, historian Roberto de Mattei navigates us through this gloomy labyrinth of evil amid congiure, conspiracies, and plots -- terms often used as synonyms but which, through their semantic and conceptual differences, can each assist us in understanding better the hidden dimension of the history of the past five centuries.

While the Italian term congiure indicates secret agreements limited to a few people and aimed at killing a sovereign or a political leader, often in the context of a power struggle, conspiracies are projects with a much broader scope that seek to overthrow the constituted order. The golden age of congiure and political assassinations runs from the poisons of the Renaissance to the 1700s. Then, with the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, an age opened in which the traditional congiure was bolstered by the development of conspiracies of an ideological and political character.

The plot, on the other hand, is an elusive, hidden agglomerate of which neither the identity of the protagonists nor the concrete operative means are revealed. Professor de Mattei posits that the contemporary plotting spirit we see today -- from the Aquarius conspiracy, to the Great Reset, to the virus pandemic -- has nothing to do with the study of anti-Christian secret societies, which has always been part of historiography and Catholic apologetics but, in fact, plays into the hands of those intent on the psychological, intellectual, and moral destabilization of the West. In these fascinating pages, you will discover:

• Whether socio-psychological criteria are enough to formulate a conspiracy theory
  
• What famous political minds such as Niccolò Machiavelli believed about conspiracies
  
• How fabrications of plots by individuals such as Catherine de' Medici led to bloodshed
  
• The cruelest epoch in history and its aftershocks in the schemes of secret societies
  
• The role of the occult in plots and conspiracies, and its relationship with revolution
  
• Solutions to avoid becoming lost in the matrix of evil and lies in modernity

Ultimately, you will find how to differentiate between true and false plots and to discern how some conspiracies lead to heresy and insidiously attempt to destroy Christianity. By reading this book, you will be equipping yourself to challenge and overcome the dark errors of our times.

Here is the book that clarifies the mystery of God's work in your life now and what will happen in the end times. Professor Roberto de Mattei opens by explaining, through the lens of St. Thomas Aquinas and other great minds, the order with which God created the world. He then reveals the disorder through which mankind attempts to rule the world and how it will be one day gloriously restored in God's Providence.

In these brilliant pages you will find that nothing happens by chance. As de Mattei unpacks the roles of angels, men, and nations, you will learn how to grow in living out God's will for your life. You will also discover:

• What is meant by the ladder of beings and how to attain the heights of perfection
• Where the summit of love is found
• The real cause of evil and why God allows it
• Three vices of man -- and three corresponding punishments
• What authentic surrender to God's will consists of and how to live it each moment
• Seven reasons God wants to make Our Lady known according to St. Louis de Montfort

You will also learn about the essence of God and His work in our lives, His attributes, divine order in the universe, and the role of the Church. Additionally, you will see what happens when we don't render to God as much as we should, according to St. Augustine.

De Mattei further unpacks how disorder leads us away from God, especially in the form of moral evil and revolution and characteristics of the reign of chaos in the last days. You will see how God mercifully transforms evil into good and how the restoration of the world will come about by the power of the Holy Spirit, and you will behold the triumphs of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You will thus learn to live with renewed hope in God and gratitude for His goodness as you testify to the words: Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good (Rom. 12:21).

Few Catholic writers have been as prolific as University of Rome Professor Roberto de Mattei. Over decades he has produced a wealth of incisive analyses about the Catholic world's collapse and charted an authoritative path back to health and sanity.

He has now written an exceedingly compelling and powerful biography of Pope Pius V, widely recognized as one of the boldest and most courageous popes of the past millennium, who decisively defeated the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto and fought head-on the Protestant Reformation, which had assailed the Church.

The life of every Christian is a battle, and St. Pius V offers us a luminous example of leadership in a time of trial. In these pages, you'll learn:

• How the Revolution of Luther was met with a papal shrug -- that is, until Pius V became pope
• The inside story of how Pope Pius V led the Counter-Reformation on multiple fronts
• How the devastating Sack of Rome in 1527 forever changed the Holy See and had deadly consequences for clergy and religious alike
• Why St. Pius V's no-compromise approach toward both the Renaissance and Humanist corruption preserved the Church to this day
• The behind-the-scenes story of the Council of Trent -- the most dramatic conclave in the history of the Church
• The role inquisitions played in the time of Pope Pius V and what they enabled him to accomplish
• How St. Pius V dealt with stray bishops and how his rebukes and mandates led to meaningful reform of both their lives and the Church
• How St. Pius V dealt with rebellious Catholics in France and England and what led to the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth

You'll also learn of Pope Pius V's remarkable spiritual life and regimen, his foresight and prudence in dealing with the iconoclastic fury of the Huguenots in France, and the way he handled the trials of excommunicated heretics and reformed the rotting religious orders of his
day.

Professor de Mattei makes clear that Pope Pius V was so effective and so holy that no pontificate can be judged accurately without measuring it against his. In page after fascinating page, he shows contemporary Catholics what it means to be a great pope or a saintly bishop. Here, at last, is the complete life and times of one of the Church's greatest prelates by one of her finest historians.

In the first millennium of Christian history, the foundations of Christendom were laid by Christian princes, who created the European nations while offering us an example of how the world can be made Christian without Christians becoming worldly. History, the great teacher of Christian life and faith, instructs us by the example of the martyrs, how the truth is not negotiable and must be witnessed - if necessary, to the shedding of one's blood. History edifies us with the example of the Crusaders, ignoring the trials that they would undergo and offering their lives for the Church. It reminds us, by the example of monks and hermits, that the rejection of the world and attachment to God alone, in silence and prayer, are the means to satisfy those who are called to this constant union with God. It teaches us, by the work of the apologists, how the apostolate is exercised not only by exposing the faith, but also by vigorously refuting prejudices and errors.

The solemn beatification of Pope Pius IX in September 2000 celebrated the heroic virtue of one of the most influential figures of the nineteenth century. Born in 1792, Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti was elected Pope on June 16th 1846. His pontificate, the subject of this biographical study, lasted thirty-two years, the longest after that of St Peter himself. Elevated to the Papacy amid the historical backdrop of turmoil and revolution in Italy and Europe, he was also to play a central role in the drama of the Risorgimento that led to the creation of a united Italy. Publication of the English translation of Roberto de Mattei's acclaimed study of Pius IX marks the 150th anniversary of the Pope's solemn definition of the Dogma of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception. Roberto de Mattei holds the chair of Modern History at the University of Cassino (Rome), is vice president of the Italian C.N.R. (National Council for Research) and is well-known in Italy as a journalist and writer.

La historia sirve para recordar que aquello que ocurri ayer puede repetirse hoy y que, ayer como hoy y ma ana, una sola regla permanece en los tiempos de crisis y de dificultad para la Iglesia: la fidelidad a la Tradici n, que es la fidelidad a la Verdad entregada por Cristo a su Iglesia con estas palabras: El cielo y la tierra pasar n pero mis palabras no pasar n (Mt. 24, 35). El Concilio Vaticano II ha producido documentos, pero no es, en s mismo, un documento: como todo Concilio es ante todo un evento, un momento de la historia de la Iglesia que, como tal, se sit a en el plano de los hechos y no en el de la verdad. Mientras el dogma formula una verdad, que una vez formulada trasciende por as decir la historia, los Concilios nacen y mueren en la historia y pueden ser juzgados por los historiadores.

European Governments and other institutions are currently engaged in complex negotiations over the question of the accession of Turkey to the European Union. Many doubts and reservations on this matter have been raised in the past years. Those who support Turkey's joining the EU maintain that it would prove to be a natural ally of the West in the fight against Islamist Fundamentalism. However, Turkey today is no longer the lay country of Kemal Ataturk: with the 2002 elections, further confirmed by the 2004 elections, the party of the veil led by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the President Abdullah Gul, both with a proven background of radical Islamist fundamentalism, came into power. The Treaty of Lisbon stipulates that each State in the European Union has a political weight directly proportional to its demographics. Turkey, with its almost 85 millions inhabitants, would therefore be the most populated country and, as a consequence, the most represented in the European Parliament. While Europe is giving up on its Christian roots, Turkey exhibits an extremely well-defined and strong religious - political identity and its request to join the EU has not been put forward in order to renounce such identity, but, on the contrary, to impose it more widely. With or without Erdogan, Turkey would become the leader of the Islamic minority within the European institutions, where it will no doubt play a central role. So would the potential joining of Turkey be of benefit or, instead, an irreparable catastrophe for our Continent? This book poses the question and raises the alarm.

Step into the extraordinary life of Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, a noble servant of the Church and a man of profound faith. In Merry del Val: A Cardinal Who Served Four Popes, explore his journey from an aristocratic upbringing to serving as Secretary of State under St. Pius X.

Through this meticulously researched biography, discover his pivotal role in combating modernism, shaping Church policy, and influencing the spiritual and political landscapes of his time. His humility, immortalized in the renowned Litany of Humility, and unwavering dedication to Christ offer inspiration for Catholics seeking deeper faith amidst contemporary challenges.

Written for the faithful, this compelling narrative celebrates a life lived for God and the Church. Immerse yourself in the story of a cardinal who combined diplomacy with sanctity, leaving a legacy of spiritual strength and humility. Perfect for readers who cherish Catholic history and the lives of the saints.