Francis: Pope of a New World

Francis: Pope of a New World.  By Andrea Tornielli, Ignatius Press, 2013.

 

The Vatican has been surprising the world lately.  Pope Benedict XVI’s abdication on the grounds of old age and ill health was widely unexpected, and the frenzy of media coverage of the ensuing conclave listed many potential candidates to fill the throne of Saint Peter, but very few reporters covering the 2013 conclave even considered that Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio would wind up being the man who would be elected pope.  Published swiftly after Cardinal Bergoglio became Pope Francis, Francis: Pope of a New World is Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli’s brief but informative book meant to introduce readers to the new pope.

 

In his introduction to this volume, Father Mitch Pacwa, S.J., writes,

 

“In 2005, I watched the advance of Pope Benedict XVI to Saint Peter’s balcony with a deeper joy, since it meant that another extraordinary teacher would continue to guide the Church, leaving theological and liturgical confusion farther behind.  He focused on Jesus Christ as he quietly, humbly led the Church forward, retaining the love and allegiance of the John Paul generation.

 

Pope Benedict’s retirement came as a jolt but not as a total surprise.  His age had advanced, and his strength had waned.  This book presents many key insights into Pope Benedict’s retirement, and every Catholic will appreciate the mature assessment of a decision that raised much speculation and less wisdom from various pundits inside and outside the Church.”

 

This is a quickly written book, but it is also a joyous book.  Part of the happiness found in this volume, as well as in the other coverage of Pope Francis, is due to the atypical circumstances of his election.  Normally, a new pope is elected while the faithful are still grieving the death of the previous pontiff.  In this case, Catholics were not in a state of mourning, for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is still alive.  Tornielli appears to have nothing but warm feelings and respect for Benedict XVI.  A chapter on Benedict XVI’s papacy provides a cursory overview of the retired pope’s major events and achievements, and it is a well-written and concise summary of his career as pope, although there is a vague sense that this chapter has been added in order to stretch out this admittedly short book to a publishable length.  

 

Pacwa’s introduction also discusses recent events, writing that,

 

“In 2013, the election of Pope Francis evoked another kind of pride– a fellow Jesuit, the first one in history, had been elected pope.  Certainly Jesuits had spoken of him, since he was not only an archbishop in an important archdiocese, Buenos Aires, Argentina, but also a cardinal.  The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus prohibit Jesuits from seeking to be bishops, but the pope can override that rule and choose a Jesuit to belong to the college of bishops, as happened to Father Jorge Bergoglio, S.J.  Vague rumors circulated that he was a papabile after John Paul II died, but most Jesuits I knew dismissed them with the generally accepted assumption that a Jesuit would never be pope.  I remembered him from 2005, but I thought he might be past the age being sought for a new pope in 2013, since so many people were speaking about the importance of a young pope for the modern world.  However, neither his age nor his being a Jesuit hindered him, and Jorge Bergoglio, S.J., walked out on the balcony of Saint Peter’s as Pope Francis.”

 

Tornielli was acquainted with Bergoglio long before his elevation to the papacy, having professionally interviewed him on one occasion and conversed with him casually multiple times.  Bergoglio is always referred to in a warm and admiring manner, and many people who knew him prior to his elevation have nothing but respect for him and his approaches to faith and life.  When describing Bergoglio, Tornielli writes:

 

“What always struck me about Bergoglio was his profound faith vision, his humility, his words, which were able to reach people’s hearts and help them receive the embrace of God’s mercy.  On occasion I have submitted to him articles or reflections published on my blog, but I have also asked him for prayers.  At the end of every encounter, his unfailing request was: “Pray for me, I ask you to pray for me…”

 

There are eleven chapters in this book, plus a forward, introduction, and conclusion.  Though all of them are interesting, some of the most touching include “Risotto in the Bergoglio House,” which provides a warm, gently sentimental, and touching presentation of the future pope’s formative years and education; and “A Priest Under the Dictatorship,” which illustrates the difficult relationship between the Church and the oppressive military regime that ran the country for so long, and the continuing struggle in Argentina between a government whose policies consistently attack the Catholic Church and how the Church serves as one of the most influential rebuttals of the government’s ideologies.

 

For centuries, the papacy has almost exclusively been filled by Europeans, with a few popes from Africa and West Asia, but Francis is the first pope to come from the Americas.  Some commentators have worried that Francis’s country of origin may further alienate a secularizing Europe, but Tornielli argues that Francis is a man who can unite Catholics from all regions of the world, and part of this is due to the quiet, gentle goodness of the man.  Tornielli takes pains to point out the new pope’s gift for the personal touch, citing anecdotes such as the now-famous story of the new Pope Francis personally calling his longtime newspaper man in Argentina to inform him that he would need to be canceling his subscription.  

 

Tornielli paints Pope Francis as a man without pretension but with plenty of simple charisma:

 

“The simplicity of Pope Francis, his profound gesture of bowing his head to receive the blessing invoked on him by his people, his spontaneous greeting– “Buona sera,” “Good Evening”– and the fact that he continued to be himself and nothing more, even as Bishop of Rome and Pontiff, made an impression on the hearts of millions of believers.

 

He did not want the red mozetta (cape) lined with ermine or the red shoes.  He did not want to change his poor iron cross or his very modest ring.  The day afterward, he went to pray before the image of Maria Salus populi romani (Mary, Welfare of the Roman people) at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major without being accompanied by the pomp of a retinue or by an impressive security detail, which too often runs the risk of making the Bishop of Rome, a pastor, appear in the eyes of the faithful like the president of a superpower.  Father Bergoglio, Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American, the first to take for himself the name of the great Saint of Assisi, with his little yet grand gestures and his words, at the dawn of his pontificate, is already making people understand what it means today to profess Jesus Christ.”

 

In the years and decades to come, there will be many more books about Pope Francis, his life, and his legacy.  As one of the first books about Pope Francis to be published, Francis: Pope of a New World should not be considered a rush job, but a quickly and exuberantly prepared overview meant to introduce Catholics and other interested people to the new pope.  Later books may explore Pope Francis’s career with a more analytical perspective, further behind-the-scenes insights, and possibly a sense of nostalgia; but the studies of the future are unlikely to capture the emotional surprise and excitement that came from this election that brought the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the New World, and the first pope to take the name of Francis.  Tornielli’s book manages to capture the joyousness and anticipation that may get lost in future works.

 

 

–Chris Chan