An introduction to Catholicism is an authoritative, clear and useful guide that is written by an open and fair-minded adherent, concerned to explain the significance of the Catholic Church and its faith to believers and non-believers alike. The twelve chapters cover what most readers would want to know in a work this size, from the meaning of Catholicism to the contemporary Church; from the significance of ‘Roman Catholicism’ to the types of Catholic spirituality; and from the forms and rites of Catholic worship to definitions of faith and spirituality. Short lists inserted in the text and a series of boxes – on subjects such as ‘The rosary’, ‘Catechism’, ‘Christian art’ – as well as highlighted sections, make this an especially easy book to read and use. Cunningham writes especially well on current issues that trouble and divide the faithful and their critics alike, notably the vexed problems of papal infallibility and the prohibition of contraception. There is a sympathetic assessment of the papacy of Paul vi (1963–78), who has been unfairly characterised for his decision to reaffirm the prohibition in 1968, which has overshadowed the great deal of good that he achieved in ‘opening lines of communication with the Orthodox Church, reaffirming the papal teaching on social justice, enlarging the visibility of the papacy through travel’ (p. 44). More problematic is his judgement of the ‘aristocratic Roman’ Pius xii (1939–58), who managed to bring the Church through the Second World War relatively unscathed but then, in 1950, declared that the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven was part of the Church's authentic teaching, ‘the one and only time in the twentieth century that a pope had exercised the function of papal infallibility’ (p. 43) to support his interpretation of its teaching. The author also has a keen eye for history's little ironies. In the chapter detailing the Church's many attempts at reform, Cunningham points out that Lateran V finished its work in March 1517, stating that the papal curia and the College of Cardinals needed to change. Unfortunately, such admirable conclusions were rendered pointless when, ‘six months later, a friar named Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the door of the collegiate church at Wittenberg’ (p. 200). Overall, a highly recommended book.