More than a billion Roman Catholics throughout the world today look to the pope for guidance and leadership. Despite the papacy's enormous influence, how much do you really know about this ancient and powerful institution? Catholics and non-Catholics alike will enjoy these 24 illuminating lectures about this remarkable institution. Professor Noble gives you priceless insights into the dramatic history of the papal office and the lives of the men who represented it. You'll follow four critical strands of papal history over 2,000 years: the history of the "Petrine" idea; the history of an institution; the history of popes and antipopes; the history of Western civilization; and you'll look inside the Vatican's doors and discover fresh views on the institution's people, ideas, traditions, and routines, as well as the important roles played by organizations like the Curia and the Secretariat of State. You'll investigate the mechanisms by which the church not only ministers to its worldwide flock but also deals with the practical realities of its administration. Filled with interesting stories and remarkable insights, this course promises to educate, enlighten, and entertain you.

Course Lecture Titles:
1. What Is Papal History? When Did It Begin?
2. The Rise of the Petrine Idea
3. Popes, Byzantines, and Barbarians
4. The Popes in the Age of Charlemagne
5. Rome, the Popes, and the Papal Government
6. The "Age of Iron"
7. The Investiture Controversy
8. The Papal Monarchy-Institutions
9. The Papal Monarchy-Politics
10. The Popes at Avignon
11. The Great Schism
12. The Renaissance Papacy-Politics
13. The Renaissance Papacy-Culture
14. The Challenge of Reform-Protestantism
15. Catholic Reform and Counter Reform
16. Absolutism, Enlightenment, and Revolution
17. Pius IX-Prisoner of the Vatican
18. The Challenge of Modernism
19. The Troubled Pontificate of Pius XII
20. The Age of Vatican II
21. The Transitional Pontificate of Paul VI
22. The Vatican and What It Does
23. John Paul II-"The Great"?
24. Benedict XVI, the Future, and the Past