A wise and perceptive portrait of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the newly elected Bishop of Rome and 266th Pope
Paul Vallely is a top-flight journalist with a international reputation as a commentator on religion, society and political issues. He was correspondent for The Times in Ethiopia during the famine of 1984-5 for which he was commended as International Reporter of the Year. He was the co-author of Bob Geldof’s massive-selling autobiography, Is That It? and was later involved in the organisation of Live 8. In 2004 he was seconded to the Commission for Africa set up by the British prime minister, Tony Blair where he worked on the Commission's report Our Common Interest (later published by Penguin). He is the editor of The New Politics: Catholic Social Teaching for the 21st century and has advised the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales. He was created a CMG 'for services to journalism and to the developing world' in 2006 and is currently associate editor of the Independent newspaper.
Paul Vallely’s biography of Francis…stands, in terms of seriousness
of purpose and depth of understanding, head and shoulders above
other recent rushed cuttings jobs.
*The Sunday Times*
By the end of this stint of reviewing I have read through 10
biographies of one sort or another of the new Bishop of Rome. This
emboldens me to say, without hesitation, that Vallely's is
undoubtedly the most satisfactory of an otherwise lacklustre
bunch...Vallely, as befits a long-time journalist, has done the
legwork...Read this book, forget the rest.
*The Tablet*
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..Vallely, with great
insight, posits that this painting in some way represents the
enigma of Bergoglio: a former provincial with a complicated legacy,
but also a man spiritual and humble enough to recognise his
mistakes and learn from them... The focus is on Bergoglio the
Jesuit provincial, and then Bergoglio as bishopand cardinal. It is
both challenging and illuminating...Vallely is an excellent,
well-connected writer, and Pope Francis: Untying the Knots is an
engaging and thoughtful read throughout.
*Thinking Faith*
No biography, however diligent, can capture someone's interior
life. But what this book does demonstrate is that Pope Francis is a
tougher, more complex figure than meets the eye...Anybody who reads
this book will eagerly await his next move.
*The Economist, UK*
[an] absorbing portrait of the show-stopping new pope…Vallely
invokes the image of ‘untying the knots’ to explain his goal.
*National Catholic Reporter*
Paul Vallely’s Pope Francis: Untying the Knots was one of the
earliest in the field. Admiring, but keenly questioning, its
judgements have worn well. For Vallely, Bergoglio’s failures in
wisdom and courage in the 1970’s marked a watershed in his
life.
*The NY Review of Books*
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