Part I: From the margins to the center of the Roman world
Constantine : the thirteenth apostle
Prosperity to crisis : Damasus and Leo the Great
Part II: Bringing order out of chaos
Charlemagne : savior or master?
Saving the papacy from itself
Gregory VII : who's in charge here?
Part III: Development, decline, disarray
Compromises, crusades, councils, concordats
Innocent III : vicar of Christ
Boniface VIII : big claims, big humiliation
Avignon : the Babylonian captivity
Three popes at a time : the great western schism
Part IV: Renaissance and Reformation
Luther, Leo, and the aftermath
Paul III : a turning point
Part V: Into the modern era
Pius VII : bowed down and raised up
Beleaguered, infallible, and prisoner again
Leo XIII : searching for solutions
Pius X : confronting modern culture
Part VI: The papacy as a global institution
Pius XII : saint or sinner?
John XXIII : peace and reconciliation
Paul VI : in a tight spot
John Paul II : the world is my parish.