Part One

Introduction: What Does Washington Fear About Pope Francis and Vatican Diplomacy?

Chapter 1: An Adaptable Network, Willing to Bleed

Chapter 2:Mission Beyond Religion

Chapter 3:Education of a Diplomat

Chapter 4: Sovereignty is the Ticket to the International System

Chapter 5:Diplomatic Classics, Rules of Thumb, and Modus Operandi

Part Two

Introduction: The Mustard Seed: Jorge Bergoglio as Manager, Missionary, and Mystic

Chapter 6: Stifling War in Ukraine; Prioritizing Peace with Russia

2013 protests in Ukraine lead to a war that threatens over two decades of

relationship building between Rome and Moscow

Chapter 7:Mediating Cold War Quarrels: Cuba

2014 marks normalization of relations between the US and Cuba, a landmark agreement brokered by Rome

Chapter 8:Diminishing Division: Kenya

2015 finds Pope Francis in Kenya where he shares a simple gesture

Chapter 9:Letting War's Victims Lead: Colombia

2016 clinches a peace deal signed by government and guerillas after over 50 years

of fighting; the Catholic Church helps define the agreement's core concern

Chapter 10: Piecing Together the Middle East: Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia2017 brings political crisis in Lebanon that cardinal-patriarch works to untie

Chapter 11:Unifying the Religion of the Lord of Heaven: China

2018 achieves agreement between Vatican and Beijing on bishop selection

Chapter 12: Piercing Hearts: South Sudan

2019 witnesses a pope on his knees kissing the feet of warlords