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Pope Francis: Untying the Knots; the Struggle for the Soul of Catholicism
By Paul Vallely, Second edition, Bloomsbury, 16.99
Rebecca Tinsley
This is an emotional roller coaster of a book. Like a cliff-hanging thriller, Vallely describes the institutional challenges facing Pope Francis, and the dark forces working against his attempts to reform the Church, “to let God’s Holy Spirit blow where it will along corridors and through rooms which were stuffy and airless.”
But fans of Francis should beware: Vallely’s recounting of Jorge Bergoglio’s now-infamous role in the arrest of two priests during Argentina’s dirty war will leave the reader unsettled. Equally uncomfortable is the author’s examination of the Pope’s tardiness in tackling clerical child abuse, and his patronising attitude to women.
Yet, Vallely paints a vivid, sympathetic picture of a remarkable man, surrounded by vicious Vatican vipers willing his failure. Anyone of faith reading Francis’s words in this volume cannot fail to be moved by the Pope’s courage, humility, and decency. Francis’s clear articulation of what it means to be a follower of Christ is bracing and life-enhancing to those who want an outwardly-looking, merciful church.
Other biographers have mused on how the stern Bergoglio became today’s embodiment of love, tolerance and forgiveness. Drawing on interviews with people who have known the Pope for decades, Vallely focuses on Bergoglio’s soul-searching exile in Cordoba, and his critical analysis of why he had so misplayed his Jesuit leadership back in Argentina.
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