The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope. This item is unavailable.The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope

A Philadelphia Inquirer Best Book of the Year

A biography of Pope Francis that describes how this revolutionary thinker will use the power of his position to challenge and redirect one of the world's most formidable religions

Based on extensive interviews in Argentina and years of study of the Catholic Church, this biography provides never-before-explained context on how one man's ambitious program began-and how it will likely end-through an investigation of Francis's youth growing up in Buenos Aires and the dramatic events during the Perón era that shaped his beliefs; his ongoing conflicts and disillusionment with the ensuing doctrines of an authoritarian and militaristic government in the 1970s; how his Jesuit training in Argentina and Chile gave him a unique understanding and advocacy for a "Church of the Poor"; and his rise from cardinal to the papacy.

Austen Ivereigh is a British writer, journalist, and commentator on religious and political affairs who holds a PhD from Oxford University. His work appears regularly in the Jesuit magazine America and in many other periodicals, and he is also the author of The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope. He is well-known as a Catholic commentator for the BBC, Sky, ITV, and Al-Jazeera.