The author is a famous international journalist, since December 1991 he has headed the ITAR-TASS representative office in Italy and the Vatican, and is accredited in the Republic of San Marino and the Sovereign Order of Malta. Since 2002, he has been a member of the papal press pool, the only Russian correspondent who accompanies the Roman pontiffs on board their special aircraft, covering papal apostolic visits abroad. In the retinue of John Paul II he visited Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Switzerland, France; with Benedict XVI - Germany, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Brazil, Austria, Australia, Cameroon, Angola, Holy Land (Jordan, Israel, Palestinian Authority), Czech Republic, Malta, Portugal, Cyprus, Great Britain, Benin, Mexico, Cuba and Lebanon . With Pope Francis, he attended World Youth Days in Rio de Janeiro in July 2013, and in the Middle East (Jordan, Palestine, Israel) in May 2014. The book tells the Russian reader about the history of the papacy, the relationship between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, provides information and evidence of the trips of Roman pontiffs across countries and continents, and pays special attention (for the first time in Russian literature) to the figure of the current owner of the Holy See. 2nd edition, corrected and expanded.