"Seven deadly sins—that's too many to memorize," muses Benny Good, a con man of Falstaffian proportions and principles. "When I'm pope, we'll cut them to five. Two will have to go. I'm thinking of gluttony and lust. They're too difficult to enforce."

Will Benny get his chance to make those cuts? This picaresque tale traces his life from a lowly origin as an Amish foundling to the papacy. Along the way he puts in stints as a novice evangelist, a trucker, and a radio talk show host before being discovered by a talent agent with her eye on the holdings of the Catholic Church. With the help of a brain trust and state-of-the-art political know-how, she reinvents him and grooms him for the highest office in Christendom.

"Brilliant. Funny. Irresistible." — the late Jack Cady