Pope Francis
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires on December 17,
1936. On March 13, 2013, he became the Bishop of Rome and the 266th
Pope of the Catholic Church. On March 13, 2015, he announced his
Holy Year of Mercy, which will begin on December 8, 2015, and end
on November 20, 2016.
Andrea Tornielli is a veteran Vatican reporter,
correspondent for La Stampa, and director of the Vatican Insider
website. He also writes for a variety of Italian and international
magazines. His publications include the first biography of the
Pope, Francis: Pope of a New World, which was translated into
sixteen languages, and This Economy Kills: Pope Francis on
Capitalism and Social Justice, which was translated into nine
languages.
“In The Name of God Is Mercy, Francis speaks succinctly—and with
refreshing forthrightness. . . . He emphasizes moral sincerity over
dogma, an understanding of the complexities of the world and
individual experience over rigid doctrine. . . . The pope has an
easy conversational style that moves effortlessly between folksy
sayings and erudite allusions, between common-sense logic and
impassioned philosophical insights.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York
Times
“A book on mercy might be expected to be a warm bath in kindliness,
all sweetness and light, but Pope Francis, in The Name of God Is
Mercy, offers a tough-minded reflection on an urgently needed
public virtue, together with firm, if kindly, pushback against his
critics. . . . What makes his book most moving is the way in which
this man, without disrespecting his own privacy or offering false
bromides of modesty, opens the sacred space of his conscience to
explain how he came to center his ministry, and now his papacy,
around mercy. . . . His new book comes out toward the start of the
Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which he inaugurated in December,
in a centuries-old ritual, by unlocking the ceremonial Holy Door of
St. Peter’s Basilica. The Church of which Jorge Mario Bergoglio
became Pope, nearly three years ago, was itself a locked door. As
Francis, he has, exactly, found a ‘tiny opening.’ He is pushing,
and, to universal surprise, the door is beginning to swing
open.”—James Carroll, The New Yorker
“As he has done throughout his papacy, Pope Francis shows in this
book a compelling way to present God’s love anew to a skeptical
world without denying the ancient teachings of faith. But now he is
challenging the entire Church to trek a new way forward. Francis
wants us to focus our energy on the 99% who need to experience once
more the greatest realities of our faith.”—Time
“The Name of God Is Mercy reminds me of John Paul II’s 1994 book,
Crossing the Threshold of Hope. . . . But while John Paul II relied
on Gospel passages, theological scholars and past papal
pronouncements, Francis enjoys sharing personal stories of God’s
grace and mercy in the lives of parishioners from his native
Argentina, people he has known and who have recognized themselves
as sinners.”—The Washington Post
“Powerful . . . Francis’s book signals a plea for a change of
attitude on the part of the faithful and their pastors. . . .
Bishops and priests will talk and quarrel over the text for months,
even years to come. And that, perhaps, is what Francis intends: a
disruption of the status quo; a call for open-ended discussion
about conscience, and sin, based on new priorities. He has started
the conversation by setting compassion for the poor, oppressed and
deprived of the world above casuistic rule-keeping.”—Financial
Times
“Pope Francis lays out his case for emphasizing the merciful face
of the Catholic Church in his first book as pontiff, saying God
never tires of forgiving and actually prefers the sinners who
repent over self-righteous moralizers who don’t.”—Associated
Press
“[Pope Francis] deepens his calls for a more merciful Catholic
Church. . . . The question-and-answer book is told in simple,
breezy language, with the pope referring to experiences and people
in his own life including a niece and prisoners he has
visited.”—Newsday
“Pope Francis has offered his most detailed outline yet for the
role of the Catholic church in the modern era, saying in a new
book-length interview the church needs to follow Jesus’ example
more closely. . . . ‘At times I have surprised myself by thinking
that a few very rigid people would do well to slip a little, so
that they could remember that they are sinners and thus meet
Jesus,’ Francis states.”—National Catholic Reporter
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