The proverbial phrase "conditions like those of ancient Rome" applies, as Deschner demonstrates in this book, to the conditions in the Roman Church.

The atrocities of late antiquity and the misdeeds of Christian shepherds and flocks are still romanticized today by ecclesiastical historians or are silenced.

Most "laypeople" simply considered such a multitude of criminal acts during the early Christian centuries impossible, while later they believed these were isolated cases.

The shock of this book will convince every reader that these crimes were not the forgivable mistakes of an otherwise holy Church but substantial evidence of a state-sponsored religion.