A Future of Faith

July 15, 2018
In dialogue with a French sociologist and writer, Pope Francis (Happiness in This Life, 2017, etc.) reveals some of his recent episcopal and ecumenical concerns.Four and a half years into his seat at the Holy See, Francis has revealed a number of concerns that have caused some division among the ranks of the Catholic faithful. He is a critic of rampant capitalism, for example; as he tells interlocutor Wolton, "the liberal market economy is madness." Francis is strongly critical of inequality on the one hand and the soul-wearying quest for money on the other. Though he is far from writing off the West, too, Francis sees the future of the church in developing countries and particularly in Africa, from which he has been filling the higher ranks of the organization in Rome. Still, as these conversations reveal, Francis is essentially conservative within the larger confines of doctrine. He finds roles for women in the church but isn't quite ready for the idea of women in the priesthood, and though he believes that a good-hearted atheist is better than a bad-hearted Christian, he draws plenty of lines ("tolerance is an outmoded word"). Wolton's questions are usually very much longer than Francis' replies (Q: "The Catholic Church has a considerable historical and philosophical legacy on the question of relations with the other, with coexistence, with dialogue....You should open up more. Without necessarily engaging in evangelization!" A: "Yes, we can do that"), and the pontiff is frequently gnomic ("tradition, when it becomes an ideology, is no longer tradition"). The mixed-in homilies and addresses to churchly audiences do not always seem to fit in, logically speaking, with the surrounding proceedings. However, the book is a good state-of-the-moment snapshot of some of the things occupying Francis' mind, many of which are likely to play out in various ways in the larger Catholic community.Catholic readers will find Francis' words to be of great interest--and, for the pre-Vatican II crowd, perhaps controversial.

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August 13, 2018
French journalist Wolton bases this uneven work on 12 interviews he conducted with Pope Francis between 2016 and 2017. The book collects these dialogues in eight thematic sections alongside extracts from Pope Francis’s formal addresses, given between October 2014 and April 2017, with mixed results. Though the dialogues are presented thematically, the conversations skip around quickly and vaguely invoke complex ideas such as globalization, modernity, or humanism, without either speaker pausing to define his terms. For example, Wolton states that Pope Francis is “perhaps in real terms the first Pope of globalisation, between Latin America and Europe.” Despite the book’s freewheeling nature, the two come back time and again to discussions of intra-Catholic and international politics, cultural identity, interreligious dialogue, abortion, gender, and sexuality. Wolton approaches his discussions with Pope Francis as an admirer, and the lack of challenging or probing lines of questioning will disappoint anyone looking for a nuanced discussion of the pope’s theological and political positions and practices. As Wolton himself suggests, this volume will likely find its most receptive audience among those who already appreciate the pope’s perspective.

September 1, 2018

Elected as both the first Jesuit and Latin American pope in 2013, Pope Francis (Happiness in This Life) is here encountered through a series of 12 conversations over the course of a year with French sociologist Wolton. Together they engage in a personal and intimate dialog around the broad topic of the role of the church in the world and in politics. The book is divided into themes such as "Peace and War," "Culture and Communication," and "Mercy," covering a range of subjects, including refugees, interreligious dialog, globalization, technology, and same-sex civil unions. Interspersed are more than a dozen extracts from various addresses by Francis. The exchanges clearly convey the pope's joy, humility, and playfulness even as he discusses serious issues. VERDICT As an extended interview, this book is a bit scattered, addressing not one particular topic but providing plenty of thought-provoking insight into the mind and personality of the pope across a vast array of contemporary issues. It will be enjoyed by readers, Catholic or not, interested in the perspectives of an influential and widely beloved global spiritual leader.--Brian Sullivan, Alfred Univ. Lib., NY

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2018
From February 2016 to February 2017, French reporter and sociologist Wolton conducted 12 wide-ranging interviews with Pope Francis. Here are the results, with each interview accompanied by two excerpts from six of the pope's major speeches. Focusing almost entirely on the secular world, the interviews cover such issues as globalization and technology, tradition versus modernity, migration, and?anathema to the pope?the worship of the ?money god' that runs everything. If there is a leitmotif in the book, it is the recurring image of building bridges, not walls, because walls come down. In the same connection, the pope asserts that nothing today is possible without dialogue. He decries clericalism and rigidity but espouses joy, as in his celebration of the mass, counseling priests, celebrating a birth. I feel like a good priest, he says, adding wryly, I never, ever thought I would end up here in this cage! While the pope talks seriously about large issues, including politics with a capital P, as he puts it, he laughs often, saying, the sense of humor is the thing . . . that comes closest to divine grace. Finally, he focuses throughout on what he calls, simply, the people, small wonder, then, that he is known as the people's pope. The man who emerges here is affable, approachable, always unpretentious, and deeply human.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)