The Quiet Man steps into The Shoes of the Fisherman and goes for a long walk in the O'Learys' cow pasture--all in de Rosa's...

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POPE PATRICK

The Quiet Man steps into The Shoes of the Fisherman and goes for a long walk in the O'Learys' cow pasture--all in de Rosa's (Vicars of Christ, 1989, etc.) would-be apocalyptic parody of religious and political life. If you thought the 20th century was bad, just hang on a bit. By 2009, the year that John Paul II finally gives up the ghost, the war between the Western nations and the recently convened Federation of Islamic Republics (FIR) has made even the Vatican nostalgic about the days of the Communist bloc. Ayatollah Hourani, the president of FIR, is an Islamic fundamentalist who has vowed death upon the infidels of Europe and America. And now that Saudi Arabia (and its oil) has fallen to the fundamentalists, Hourani is in a position to make good on his threat. The elderly Cardinals who have convened in Rome to elect John Paul's successor have this unhappy spectacle before them, along with more worries of their own: The faithful are no longer coming to Mass or confession, and Latin America (the most Catholic region of the world) is sinking into starvation. The circumstances that bring about the election of the obscure Irishman Brian Cardinal O'Flynn are as complex as the trials facing him in his new job. Quiet, unassuming, and none too bright, O'Flynn nevertheless puts his shoulder to the wheel. First, he abolishes celibacy as a condition of ordination, and he even presides over a mass wedding of thousands of priests in St. Peter's. Then he balances the Vatican's books by auctioning off the artwork. His first United Nations address condemns moneylending and orders the dissolution of banks. Who is this guy? It's hard to say, exactly, especially since de Rosa is so eager to write his story with one-liners that the larger tale comes across as little more than an excuse for cheap laughs. Not terribly funny, nor wonderfully sharp, and occasionally downright irksome in its reliance on stereotype: a cartoon for grownups.

Pub Date: March 3, 1997

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1997

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