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The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope by Austen Ivereigh, 2nd edition

  • Dr Gemma SImmonds

The second edition of Austen Ivereigh's papal biography is essential reading for those wishing to understand how the unsmiling Jorge Bergoglio became the rock star pope who is "constructing a new Catholic populism, one that fiercely advocates on behalf of the excluded," as Ivereigh puts it.

"The once inscrutable Jesuit provincial and taciturn Cardinal has become the most talkative of modern popes because he knows that contemporary culture only regards as credible those who are willing to dialogue," Ivereigh contends. He argues that Francis has fully grasped how profoundly the faithful, who have been "alienated by the corruption, narcissism, and nepotism of church leadership," are yearning for change. "And they want the pope to represent their interests and not just the institution's interests."

This important survey of Pope Francis's journey has been updated to include recent events, including his "bold, excoriating, 40,000-word encyclical" on the environment which, Ivereigh argues, may be "Francis's greatest legacy." The pontiff has made climate change a "primary moral issue"; a mixture of the spiritual and the political, "wading fearlessly into the science," deconstructing a model of economic growth underpinned by "frenetic consumption, and challenging the environmentalists to care about abortion as well as deforestation."

Ivereigh also highlights the importance of mercy, rather than judgment, in Francis's approach. "Mercy is the great antidote to the Western obsession with autonomy, for it grounds its hope in God and others, rather than in our own resources. That is why the poor are quicker to grasp Francis than the rich and the educated - and why the opposition to Francis has come from elite groups invested in particular narratives." Ivereigh conveys a wonderful sense of the keen, earnest, bright young Bergoglio, and the lower middle class Buenos Aires in which he grew up. But the story of Bergoglio, as Ivereigh tells it, is also the modern history of Argentina. The reader must therefore be prepared for his rendering of the junta's dirty war in the 1970s and 1980s, Peronism, liberation theology, and the resulting splits within the Catholic Church. To this day Bergoglio is a divisive figure because of what he did, or did not do during the dirty war.

Some biographies suggest the transformation of the authoritarian Bergoglio to the Francis who savages exploitative capitalism is due to a life-changing reassessment of his role during the dirty war. Others point to his controversial leadership of the Jesuits in Argentina that culminated in his wilderness period in Cordoba. But Ivereigh charts a more complex journey, where profound compassion co-exists with a rejection of political extremes.

Ivereigh warns the reader not to assume Pope Francis's views on capitalism - "No one can accept the precepts of neo-liberalism and consider themselves a Christian" - mean he is on the left. "Francis's radicalism is not to be confused with a progressive doctrine or ideology. It is radical because it is missionary and mystical." By mystical he means Francis's respect for local religious customs and rituals. Throughout his career there has been what Ivereigh describes as "a whiff of anti-intellectualism." Hence Bergogolio advises colleagues to spend less time polishing their theology and more time learning from the people, looking outward, rather than inward.

Ivereigh is also fascinating on Francis's attempts to make the Vatican Bank accountable and transparent, and to transform the Curia, many of whose members appear to invest hours a day plotting against His Holiness. Let us hope the author is poised to keep updating this masterful biography as the Pope navigates the hostile waters of the Vatican.

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