Paul Vallely has an international reputation as a commentator on religion, society and ethical issues. As a journalist he has produced award-winning reporting from 30 countries over three decades. He continues to write and is Visiting Professor of Public Ethics and Media at the University of Chester in Great Britain. He has been an adviser to the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales. He lives in Manchester, England with his wife and son.

As Pope Francis takes the world by compassionate storm and becomes Time Magazine’s Man of the Year for 2013, I want to know more about him. Reading the interview he gave last summer to America magazine and other Jesuit publications, and then falling in love with him as I read Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), I am tempted to put him on some pedestal he does not seek.

This book sought to describe his life with both candor and sympathy. The world events that swirled around Jorge Bergoglio in Argentina, at a time when he was unready for the authority vested in him, seem to have the beginning of a Godly humiliation that over time have changed the man who is now Pope Francis.

Franciscan teacher Father Richard Rohr says that he has often prayed to be shown “one good humiliation a day” to slow down his ego and open his eyes to the self-inflicted sabotage of God’s good work in his life. Pope Francis seems to be cut from that same cloth.

Vallely’s book is a best-seller. On the cover is a quote from The Tablet: “Read this book - forget the rest.” I found it fascinating.
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