City of Echoes

Gosh, what a read! This book goes through the history of Rome from the beginnings of the papacy within it, all the way to 2020, and tells the story of how the popes and, therefore, the Church, have shaped not just the city of Rome, but most especially the people. As expected it???s a lot of ups and downs, as seen in the way the papacy gained power and then slowly lost it. Nowadays, though the Catholic Church???s largest congregations exist outside of Europe, and though the Church???s power has diminished significantly since the heady days of the medieval period and early Renaissance, Rome still remains an important city to Christians, and the Pope himself remains an important figure on the world stage. He might not be able to take direct political action anymore, but the Pope is still a culturally important force. And he can certainly still steer the Roman Catholic Church - though I do wonder just how much power he exerts over the Church. I can???t really speak to that though, as I was never really a devout Catholic even when I was studying at Catholic schools. 
I enjoyed W??rnberg???s narrative, which wove together various aspects of the story of Rome and the popes in a way that showed just how tightly the two were linked. The chapters on the early Church, in particular, were fascinating, showing how the primacy of Rome as THE holy city of Christianity was grounded in the death and suffering of saints and martyrs, particularly Peter and Paul. The concept of Petrine authority - the fact that Jesus said that he would ???build his church??? upon the ???rock??? that was his disciple Peter - would be called upon by the popes repeatedly over the hundreds of years of the Church???s existence. Initially it was used to shore up and emphasize the primacy of Rome and the Pope above all other cities where Christianity was practiced, like Alexandria and Constantinople, but once that status had been cemented, it was used to project the power of the Pope and of Rome across all of Europe - and, eventually, to the colonial holdings of European nations. It would all come to an end, of course, with the power of the papacy - and therefore Rome???s dominance - diminishing in the 18th century and finally coming to an end in the early 20th, but some of that glamor and importance still remains - as seen in the way the Pope is treated by the international community, and how Rome is considered the home and center of Catholicism. 
Something I noticed W??rnberg doing a lot was showing how it wasn???t just ???great men??? who shaped the history of Rome and the papacy. Wealthy Roman women provided money and other invaluable resources to the early Church, and female saints both lauded and chastised popes down the centuries. They were also instrumental movers and shakers behind the scenes (and sometimes not even behind the scenes) during the medieval and Renaissance periods, and even a little after that. Nuns and prophets, queens and princesses, all left their mark in some way, shape, or form on the history of Rome and the papacy in their own ways. 
Another thing that W??rnberg brought up, but didn???t quite expand upon, was just how global the papacy???s reach was - and consequently, how large Rome looms as the center of Christianity in the minds of people in other places very far from Rome. While she does go into how the popes turned the city into one of Christianity???s most important pilgrimage sites, she doesn???t quite go as in-depth in the role of the papacy in fostering colonialism and the slave trade. I suppose that would be straying too far afield, given how the book is supposed to focus primarily on the relationship between Rome and the papacy, but I think that???s something that bears closer examination. After all, colonialism and slavery made many countries rich, and thus financed not just wars that would affect Rome and the papacy, but also donations and contributions made to the Church???s coffers. Thus, through wealth, war, and later through missionaries who ???claimed souls??? for the Church, slavery and colonialism altered the character of both the papacy and Rome. 
W??rnberg also examines the relationship between fascism and the Church, but again, only does so briefly, as it relates to Mussolini???s attempt to use Rome and the Pope as the centerpiece for his fascist regime. This is a topic that could definitely be explored with more depth, especially since the popes of the time alternated between leaving Mussolini alone, to working with him, to working against him. 
Overall this is a fantastic read. W??rnberg weaves the story of the popes and of Rome together in a way that shows how each influenced the other in ways that neither could always predict, thus creating the city - and the papacy - we are familiar with today. Though the papacy???s power is now restricted to Vatican City (an immensely small fragment of what used to be under its jurisdiction in its heyday) the fact remains that papal influence is still powerful in Rome, and thus can still shape the city in certain ways - just as, of course, the city, and indeed the rest of the world, can shape the papacy in turn. It will be interesting to see how that twined relationship shifts and changes in the future.