The Great Reformer

Austen Ivereigh is a British writer, journalist, and commentator on religious and political affairs who holds a PhD from Oxford University. He is a former deputy editor of the influential Catholic journal The Tablet and his work appears regularly in the Jesuit magazine America and in many other periodicals. He is a founder of media group Catholic Voices. He frequently appears as a commentator on Catholic issues on the BBC, Sky, ITV and Al-Jazeera and writes regularly for The Guardian.

Since his surprise appointment in March 2013, Pope Francis has emerged as the most talked-about and most revolutionary pope in living memory. He has become a subject of fascination, conversation, and headlines not only to the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, but to virtually everyone. This biography of Pope Francis describes how this revolutionary thinker became who he is, and how he will use the power of his position to challenge and redirect one of the world's most formidable religions.

Drawing on extensive interviews in Argentina and other countries and now featuring an updated epilogue, The Great Reformer traces the roots of his papacy in Francis's childhood in Buenos Aires, in his Jesuit training, and in the dramatic events during the Perón era and the military government in Argentina in the 1970s. It shows how these experiences have shaped his beliefs, and with his commitment to the discernment of God's will, enabled him to challenge and redirect the Church.

Pope Francis was elected in the midst of one of the biggest crises in the Church in modern times. This is the story of a true radical who is transforming the Church by restoring what it has lost.

The first major biography of Pope Francis traces the life of this revolutionary thinker from his childhood in Argentina to the world leader he is today.