Pope francis biography vallely marine

Benedict XVI’s decision to resign the papacy in February 2013 meant that the world’s introduction to Pope Francis took place in rather unusual circumstances.

There was none of the respectful mourning that accompanies the death of a preceding pope to temper the frenzied speculation when Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio stepped out onto the balcony. News organisations immediately began scrambling to get up to speed on the Argentinian Jesuit, and there has since been a rush by publishing houses to release books about this formerly unknown cardinal (at least outside of South American circles) who was called to Rome from ‘the ends of the earth’.

Of the new literature rushed out to capitalise on the great interest and the extraordinarily long honeymoon period that Francis is experiencing, Paul Vallely’s Pope Francis: Untying the Knots is perhaps the best in the English language.

The only biographical account of Bergoglio published before the election, in