The Catholic Church has been undoubtedly going through a period of
profound crisis. Endless scandals and conspiracies have plagued the
Church in recent years, and with resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in
February 2013, the Catholic community was left in dire need of
direction and spiritual renewal.
Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, elected to Saint Peter’s Throne on March
13, 2013, in one of the briefest conclaves in history, represents a
rekindled sense of hope for the Church’s 1.2 billion followers. The
first Jesuit to occupy the papacy, Pope Francis I is also the first pope
ever to hail from the Americas, and has inspired an enormous sense of
pride, especially among Latin Americans and his native Argentina.
Francis: A Pope for Our Time, The Definitive Biography incisively
chronicles Pope Francis’ ancestry, youth, call to faith, humble
beginnings with the Society of Jesus, and rise through Argentina’s
ecclesiastical ranks, all the way to the Vatican. The book emphasizes
His Holiness’ Jesuit background of humility, poverty, and service that
stands to reform the Vatican’s long history of lavish excess and removed
otherworldly style of leadership.
This concise biography also details Jorge Bergoglio’s coming of age
during the Peronist years, the challenges he faced throughout
Argentina’s brutal military dictatorship, as well as his political
stance against the progressive policies of the Kirchners.
Known as the “Black Pope” (for his Jesuit garb), the “Pope of the
Poor,” and the “Third World Pope,” such monikers exemplify Pope Francis’
original and primary mandate: his pastoral commitment to society’s
most underprivileged and disenfranchised. His dedication to
interreligious dialogue, accessibility to his community, and rejection
of pomp in favor of simplicity promises to bring real-world leadership
to a modern Church desperate to emerge from old-world precepts.