When Berlin-based journalist Derek Scally visited Christmas Vigil Mass in his hometown of Dublin, he found that like its congregants, the once-packed suburban church where he was an altar boy was quiet and slowly ageing. A collective identity lost, the dwindling power of the Church in Ireland was undeniable.

The Best Catholics in the World is Scally's response - an empathetic and engaging voyage into the story of Irish Catholicism. Researched over three years, and including dozens of interviews conducted in Ireland and further afield, The Best Catholics in the World is a lively, original, moving and thought-provoking account of a country grappling with its troubling past and confusing present.