Francis: Pope of a New World Hardcover – April 4, 2013

The title of this review refers to the title of the last chapter of the book inspired by a creed Jorge Bergoglio wrote shortly before he was ordained a priest. "Love" (along with humility) certainly characterizes the pope's first months in the Chair of Peter. The themes of love and humility run throughout the book as well. The author is a long time Vatican correspondent who is clearly a fan of the new pope. He starts the book in the conclave and quickly comes to the election and presentation of the new pope. Chapter Two is dedicated to Benedict and papal resignations. The next chapter provides an insider look into events leading up to the conclave, the conclave itself, and the immediate aftermath. The bulk of the remainder of the volume is a look at the life of Francis up until his election. Details regarding particular struggles due to the political situation of Argentina throughout his ordained life dominate the story and give us a look at how the man has dealt with challenges in the past. Then come Francis's words and actions in the immediate aftermath of his election followed by what his past and present approaches may indicate about his rule and some opinions (hopes?) from the author on what he would like to see. A short interview the author had with Card. Bergoglio in early 2012 is transcribed as well. The book closes with the marvelous personal creed mentioned above.A significant part of the text on Bergoglio's life pre-papacy is excerpts from the 2010 interview book, "El Jesuita," of which I was happy to have an early translation (the entire book is out in English with the title "Pope Francis: His Life in His Own Words" by Ambrogetti and Rubin). In fact, throughout the book, the author provides substantial excerpts from books, magazine and newspaper articles, homilies, and so on. This book likely contains the first English translations of many of these.I very much appreciated this work. The author's journalistic style gives the book a personal flavor in which one really feels like he gets to know the new pontiff. Highly recommended as a way to get to know Pope Francis in much more than a cursory way.

Curious about the new Pope, I picked this up and it is a quick read. The beginning is a recitation of the events leading up to his appointment after the resignation of Pope Benedict. If you read the papers you know this. There are chapters dealing with his youth in Argentina and his call to the Priesthood and that makes for interesting reading. The best parts of the book are the later chapters which contain excerpts of past interviews with Pope Francis and stories from his past which reveal his character and the type of Pope he will be. Pope Francis comes through in this book as a humble, caring man filled with love and mercy with a devotion to the poor. He is a bright light in an increasingly cloudy world. Recommended to those who are looking for a introduction to Pope Francis.

The election of a new pope usually brings a flurry of books to study the new successor of St Peter. Andrea Tornielli produced this biographical study on Pope Francis within 10 days of his election as Bishop of Rome. This would seem to be an amazing feat, but for the fact that Tornielli had interviewed Jorge Mario Bergoglio on several occasions in the last year and, as a journalist for Torino's newspaper, "La Stampa", was extraordinarily well prepared to cover the conclave. That said, Tornielli has produced an insightful study of the new pope's background, life, studies, vocation, ministry and influence. The book is filled with excerpts from previous interviews that Tornelli and others had done with Pope Francis when he was the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, as well as with interviews with family members, parishioners, Jesuit confreres and many members of the Catholic population in Buenos Aires. The final book is an exciting first glimpse of the new pope and the opening days of what may well be an epoch-changing pontificate.

This book was published within weeks of Pope Francis' election.There hasn't been time for any real analysis or even much original text. What is good though is that Andrea Tornielli is a professional journalist working in the Vatican so he understands the workings and the language of the Catholic Church. This makes his commentary far, far better than the "fly in" commentators who covered the election for the major networks in much the same way they would have covered a football match.The book contains a series of little stories from the Pope's past and some more recent material. In the end you do get a quite reasonable feel for Francis the person - what motivates him, how he sees the world and what he is likely to think is important.

This book gives the reader an insight into the life of Pope Francis before he became Pope.It gives you an idea of what it has been like to be a cardinal during the very time that a new Pope is elected, and what it is like for the present one. It also gives you an insight into the retirement of the former Pope, as well as the lives of the last 2000 years of our Popes and how they lived in every century. Life is full of changes, and they will have to be made in the Catholic Church if it is to survive in the coming centuries. That is just my personal opinion and is not in the book.It is a very informative book and will give the reader a lot of food for thought.

Like another reviewer, I read this book in one sitting. It was captivating and gave the reader a good look at the heart and mind of the New Pope Francis. I am so happy that we have a down to earth, caring for the poor, Humble pope to lead the free world. He is a breath of fresh air in a world that is fast becoming evil. I was so impressed with the quotes in the book of the things he said before he was pope and after he was pope.I go to a Salvation Army church but of late have become fascinated with the Catholic church. I am sure glad we have this man in charge. For the price of a movie and a drink you can really enjoy a good book here!Love alwaysMatthew Robert PayneAuthor of "The Parables of Jesus Made Simple."

This is a lovely little book that gives a brief outline to the life of Pope Francis prior to his election. I have always said that if you have a problem, ask a Jesuit and now we have one for a Pope. He has a tough time ahead but with Jesuit philosophy I am sure he is well able and within months of inauguration is already investigating the Vatican Bank and the Vatican itself! I recommend this read and hopefully afterwards you will feel like me that somehow we can relax a little as we now have a pair of safe hands in charge. Book arrived promptly and I would use this seller again.

Whilst the bopok I received was an excellent read and gave me knowledge of the Holy Father that I might not otherwise have known.It was NOT, as described, A Photographic Record since ,other than the dust cover,not one photograph is in the book. Neither of the Holy Father or the Vatican.To say I was initially disappointed I was, having read the book, somewhat mollified by an insightful and interesting narrative. First real error I have had with Amazon, hopefully the last. I suggest you delete "A Photographic Record" since nowhere in the book could I find this term.

The sub-title says says it is a photographic record.There are no photographs of any sort in the book'It is completely mis-leading title/ I sent it back once and asked for the one with the illustrations and they sent it back again.At this point I gave up as the postage was getting to be more than the book cost. This was my most disappointing purchase from Amazon and did not buy anything else for some time as a protest.

This comapratively short book gives one a really intimate and easy-to-read account of this very warm, human man. Yes, he is now Pope; but this book shows us that he will always remain a humble, loving Christian, who considers all of his brothers and sisters.

Helps understnad this amazing man