This book gives an Irish novelist's impressions of the state of the institutional church in many diverse countries. Although the former altar boy is a lapsed Catholic, he finds that ritual still reaches him on a nonrational level. Toibin makes some harsh observations about the Pope's trips — especially his interaction with the public. The author gives colorful accounts of the elaborate processions of the Virgin Mary in the streets of Seville on Palm Sunday and of his journey from Leon in the north of Spain to Santiago de Compostela and the shrine of St. James. Toibin contrasts the sober Catholicism of Poland with the less ambitious state of believers in several Slavic countries. The Sign of the Cross is a fascinating reading experience.