Francis: Pope of good promise 15 October 2015 by Jimmy Burns, reviewed by John Cavadini In his lively, sometimes compelling biography, Jimmy Burns sets out to offer his reader “fresh insight into a key spiritual figure of our times”, cautioning the reader that, nevertheless, this is “not a hagiography”. It is not, he assures us, the story of a “picture-book saint”, but of a “complex man” with a “mixed record”. For example, the book’s most searching chapter, “The Dirty War”, sifts through the evidence for the Jesuit provincial Jorge Bergoglio’s …
Catholic Herald Book Review
Book review: From ‘little devil’ to rescuer of fallen women by Jane Taylor posted Thursday, 8 Oct 2015 The future Pope Francis greets the faithful in Buenos Aires in 2009 (AP) This latecomer on the Pope Francis biography scene is fresh, vivid and beautifully crafted Francis: Pope of Good Promise by Jimmy Burns, Constable, £25 With so much now on record about Pope Francis and at least three weighty biographies by well-known Catholic writers published during the past two years, the question has to be: what’s new here? Jimmy Burns …
Good crowd at Wigtown
Nice appreciative crowd at the wonderful Wigtown literary festival joined me on Saturday October 3rd to hear some thoughts on Pope Francis and buy my book! We were blessed with beautiful weather and I was privileged to have Rod Pryde as my interviewer.Rod has returned to his native Scotland after working for several years in Spain for the British Council. I was delighted to meet him and know that as well as settling in one the most beautiful parts of the UK, he has now also become involved in the …
12 people who ruined Catalonia
From a haughty count to a tax fraudster, via a very vengeful dictator. By Jimmy Burns 9/29/15, 5:36 PM CET Updated 10/2/15, 11:54 AM CET As pro-independence parties win a majority in the local Parliament but fall short of 50 percent of the popular vote, we name 12 people responsible for Spain’s potential constitutional crisis. 1. Wilfred the Hairy: Perhaps the Knight of the White Moon who defeated Don Quixote on Barceloneta beach was really Wilfred the Hairy — Guifré el Pilós in Catalan. The legendary 9th Count of Barcelona, …
A Pope for All Seasons
For those predicting division and anger in the US Congress , Pope Francis delivered a characteristic surprise with one of his politically most finely balanced speeches since his election. He won over the great American nation within seconds , paying tribute to the ‘land of the free and home of the brave’ before drawing on the example of four exemplary Americans who between them cut across race, party, religion, and sex: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Thomas Merton, and Dorothy Day. There were no walk outs, nor organised partisan sit-downs. …
Pope Francis’s Cuban politics
An article in today’s influential Spanish newspaper El Pais by its respected Rome correspondent Pablo Ordaz suggests than not all has been is peace and love in the current Vatican press corps while in Cuba. Commenting on the Pope’s visit to the island, Ordaz comments that it has been notable for its low-key and- in Ordaz’s view- disappointingly weak reaction to the Castro regime’s human rights record which showed its darker side when anti-regime leaflets were scooped up by security police, dissidents were prevented from getting anywhere near Pope …
Pope Francis as Trump’s Nemesis
Pope Francis stands for most of everything Donald Trump finds objectionable. I would list this, in no particular order, as the following: Kindness and tolerance of minorities and other races and religions. Concern about global warming to the extent of calling for an immediate and drastic cut-back of polluting energy generators and waste. A critique of unbridled capitalism and a belief in the common good, based on human solidarity, and a truly Christian community as envisaged by the Beatitudes. Humility. Spirituality. Jesuitical Discernment. An ability to listen to the other. …
Pope Francis and the Malvinas
Pope Francis and the Malvinas The snapped moment of encounter projected fast and globally on the world wide web has become as much as a characteristic of the Francis papacy, as his twitter account @pontifex. This is a papacy with a charismatic personality and instinctive communicator at its helm. It is also a papacy advised by media specialists and diplomats that know something about the opportunity offered by the digital age to spread a message with an impact that would have inconceivable just a few years ago. Since Francis’s election, …
Francis’s God of Surprises
Much of the Vatican-including its majority of civil servants and regular press corps- is on holiday although evidently not Pope Francis. On Wednesday of this week he resumed his weekly general audience after a month partly caught up in challenging foreign travels, some at life-threatening high altitudes, and spoke in a way that once again generated global new stories. This is a Pope that draws attention, rarely in a negative sense. Pope Francis called for a church of “open doors” to divorced Catholics and their families, reviving the ongoing debate …
Adios, Iker
They tried to make up for it today-the fans and the club and the execs in the Bernabeu with a belated act of homage- but neither the President of the Club nor your team mates were with you when, alone on sunday, you gave your final press conference as a departing Real Madrid player prior to your transfer to Porto. “C’est fini”,you said at the end of a press conference which inevitably had you shedding tears before the grateful photographers. At the age of 34, you have a record as …
