How to Be Pope: What to Do and Where to Go Once You're in the Vatican

By Piers Marchant

Book Overview

Congratulations, Your Holiness, and welcome to your first day at the Holy See. After being elected by the College of Cardinals, you'll need to don the papal vestments and get right to work. Armed with this manual, compiled over the last 2,000 years, you'll be able to navigate the Why's, How's, and Who's of your new life as Pontifex Maximus. What is your official job title? Why do you need to choose a papal name? Who does your laundry? While the church has long maintained an aura of complete secrecy to outsiders, the facts, figures, and historical anecdotes found here give the crucial information you'll need to fulfill your papal duties. Detailed diagrams reveal significant locations within the Vaticanwhere to buy gas, where to mail a letter, St. Martha's Housewhile helpful illustrations demonstrate how to perform the papal wave, the uniform of the Swiss Guards, and how to tell the difference between a mitre and a stole. All this plus a Latin primer, tips on greeting world leaders, and a list of job benefits makes for an indispensable guide to performing the role of Successor to the Prince of the Apostles.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811852210
• ISBN13: 9780811852210
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 7.5"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

A humorous approach to informing the reader of everything to do with being the Pope

How To Be Pope: What To Do And Where To Go Once You're In The Vatican by Piers Marchant is a humorous approach to informing the reader of everything to do with being the Pope, and knowing the Vatican City. As a highly informative and instructional reference for the holy city and positioning, How To Be Pope is well written to cover every imaginable detail of being elected Pope, including the answers to questions like: who does my laundry?; can I keep a pet?; how do I make phone calls?; which hat do I wear when?; do I have a special wave? and many more interesting and fun facts. How To Be Pope is very highly recommended to all visitors of the Vatican City, as well as to those expecting to become elected as the next Pope.

This was a great conversation piece with my Catholic friends. We laughed and laughed.

Great fun, especially if you are Catholic. I enjoyed it.

A fun, quick read

Being a Catholic who is highly sensitive to material that is offensive, this book passed with flying colors. Actually, anyone would enjoy reading it. It has such a great premise, and totally delivers. I particularly got a kick out of reading that the Vatican City ATM machines are the only ones in the world whose primary language is Latin.

Respectful but Very Fun

What a fun little book this is! I came across it by accident, read it from cover to cover in less than an hour, and couldn't have had a more enjoyable time. The conceit of the book is that the reader has just been elected pope. What are the essentials that a new pope with no background would have to know about being pope and living in Vatican City? Mr. Marchant has gathered together the basics (clothes, buildings of the Vatican, staff, rituals, duties, travel, recreation and much more) and outlined them in a pleasant, easy-to-read fashion. As a Catholic, I was particular pleased that the book is completely factual and unoffensive. Unless you are bothered by the idea of imaging yourself as pope, there is nothing here but history, geography and a light touch. Nothing to get angry about. So read it and enjoy!

Absolutely Bloody Brilliant!

Right. Well, yes, I'm biased, but I found it a bloody good read -- many facts and details about Popes -- as well as perfectly sound advice for incoming popes, all written in pithy little nuggets of information. Learn about the VC and all of its peculiar charms, become acquainted with the daily duties and responsibilities of the office, find out (extremely) hard-to-find details about the Pope's day-to-day living. Who does his laundry? What does he eat for breakfast? Who makes the Popemobile? And what's the deal with exorcisms, anyway? I don't need to tell you this would make a perfect gift this holiday season do I? I do? Well, then, there you are. Enjoy!