Scott here with another episode of the History and Plug Podcast.

There's a good argument to be made that the most influential institution in Western civilization is the Catholic Church. It created universities, modern

hospitals, many of the items on the earliest printing presses were papal indulgences, and that managed

international affairs before there were bodies like the United Nations,

allocating for example where Spain or Portugal could set up their colonies.

He's also responsible for the Crusades, Inquisition trials, political jockeying for who could become a bishop or a pope,

and was perhaps the most important mediator of human affairs for at least the last 17th centuries.

Today's guest is H.W. Crocker, author of Triumph, the power and glory of the Catholic Church.

We look at these events I mentioned along with Renaissance pubs, the Reformation, the challenges

of the Catholic Church in the 20th and 21st centuries, and in a society change from monarchies to Western secular democracies, what place it has in the future.

Hope enjoy this discussion with H.W. Carter.

And one more thing before we get started with this episode, a quick break for word from our sponsors.

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Whoever or hate it I think it's impossible for anyone to argue that the Catholic Church isn't one of the most

important institutions in Western civilization and there are many reasons why and we'll get into a

number of them in this episode but when I was thinking about it, I thought one of the reasons is that the Catholic Church incubated some of the earliest and oldest corporations in the West,

corporation being an organization that's recognized by law as a legal entity.

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