What about apostolic succession?   What is it? 

It is two things.  Supposedly, all bishops are part of a continuous line of succession from the Apostles, and the Pope line of succession is from the Apostle Peter.  It is claimed that the Holy Spirit is at work raising up the proper men to fill these spots, so they are "divinely" chosen.

The Roman Church claims that Peter was the first pope of the universal church, and that church is the Roman Catholic Church.  Pope Benedict recently proclaimed that it is the ONLY church.  Further, he says, no one can be saved outside of it.

With men divinely chosen and raised up by the Holy Spirit, you would expect to have a high standard of morals and knowledge of God's Word.  What does history reveal?

In the first place the first universal pope was Boniface III, chosen in the early 7th century, not by the Holy Spirit, but by Phocus the usurping emperor at Constantinople.  Phocus was a murderer. He murdered the previous emperor, his wife, all the sons and daughters.  The Eastern church had tried to protect the mother and daughters, but Phocus took them from the church and killed them.   Since the eastern church had provoked him, he named Boniface at Rome the universal pope of all churches everywhere.The Holy Spirit could not have been at work here, could it?

Phocus went on to murder 70,000 more people (supporters of the previous emperor) at the Hippodrome. The Hippodrome was Constantinople's "Colosseum."

Then there is the tale of Boniface VII strangling Benedict VI to elevate himself into the papacy.  Hmmn, the Holy Spirit first picked Benedict and then changed it's mind and chose Boniface to murder Benedict and become pope?   Is there some joke here?

Then there is Balthazar Cosa, a fine pick of the Holy Spirit.  He was Pope John XXIII, yes, the first one.  He "flourished" in the early 15th century.  At one point he and his two brothers were Neoplitan pirates.  In order to gain the papacy, he dressed himself as a corsair (pirate) and, with a group of swashbucklers, forced attendants, at the meeting called to choose a new pope, to choose him or have their throats slit. Holy Spirit's choice? This has to be a joke, doesn't it? 

Then consider the multitude of popes strangled, poisoned and otherwise murdered.  

You will find a whole list of these and other information about them in the book.