Books by SJ O'Malley

In The Jesuits acclaimed historian John W. O'Malley, SJ, provides essential historical background from the founder Ignatius of Loyola through Pope Francis and the present. Concise and compelling, this brief book is an accessible introduction for anyone interested in world or church history.

We can't understand the issues swirling in today's Catholic Church without understanding the past. In this book acclaimed historian John W. O'Malley, SJ, illuminates contentious issues-from celibacy to the role of the pope-through their history and then shows how that past connects with life today.

Tells the story of the oldest living institution in the Western world-the papacy. From its origins in Saint Peter, Jesus' chief disciple, through Pope Benedict XVI today, the popes have been key players in virtually all of the great dramas of the western world in the last two thousand years.