Papal Glow is the time between centuries, that little dust mote trailing in the sun's glare between folds of the partition that separates the public from true knowledge. It is the preventative strain keeping the powers-that-be at bay while the world swirls by unnoticed. This glow imbues a young boy named Leo, who must use the papacy to divide the time between those centuries, speed up modernity at the very beginning of the 19th century, and oppose the ever-growing reign of Napoleon. But as Leo grows into his papal role, the lines between what Leo wants and can achieve grow smaller as well, until Leo sets up a miracle himself and the time between centuries becomes as small as a dust mote.