St. Peter's

Richard John Neuhaus does a quick review of a new book on the building of St. Peter's Basilica:

It is a lovely book, filled with historical detail and lively depictions of the main players, beginning with the unstoppable Pope Julius II, who in 1505 decided to demolish the basilica built by the emperor Constantine 1,200 years earlier and laid the first stone of the new St. Peter’s a year later. In fits and starts, punctuated by war, corruption, and stunning incompetence, the work proceeded until the new basilica was dedicated 120 years later, in 1626.

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