Table of Contents

A village boyhood; a counter-reformation seminary; a Roman education; into the whirlwind of modernism; the Great War; towards propaganda and Fascism; ten hard years in Bulgaria; the innocent suspect; God's consul; difficult mission to France; the seasons of Venice; the wide-open conclave; the first ninety days; the inspiration of the Council; the struggle for the Council; at home and in Rome; the Italian connection; enter Augustin Bea; getting on for eighty; the dress rehearsal; on the slopes of the sacred mountain; sixty days to change the Church; last will and testament; eastertide; appendix - the Roman Curia.

Reviews

"Hebblethwaite has combined superlative research with the ability to arrive at a judicious assessment of an issue. This is a work in which the broad lines of John's life and those of the other dramatis personae are continually illuminated by telling details and incidents. At the same time the author gives considerable freedom to his sense of humour. His capacity for standing back and smiling at his subjects-a very English quality in a biography-is one of the book's great strengths. In the end Hebblethwaite's achievement is to bring back to us a powerful sense of Pope John's personality and
his views on some of the most pressing issues of our time. Once again Angelo Roncalli's voice can be heard, proclaiming a preferential option for the poor, defending the need for scholarly freedom and the courageous pursuit of truth, and denouncing the enormous evil of the arms race, whatever its specious justifications. Defunctus adhuc loquitur-he has died, but is still speaking to us." Philip Esler in National Outlook

"A well-developed and entertaining portrait of the pope whose goodness, humor and humility almost moved the church's bishops to canonize him by acclamation at the extraordinary council he convened in 1962."
-The Star-Ledger, April 15, 2001