Author:
Cornwell, John, 1940- author.
ImprintSan Francisco, California : Chronicle Prism, [2021]
Descriptionxvii, 285 pages ; 24 cm
Note:A Personal Preface --INTRODUCTION. Prudenza Audace, or Bold Prudence: In Pursuit of the "Francis Effect" -- PART ONE. INTERRUPTING THE CENTER -- What Popes Are For: The Tasks Facing Francis -- Two Popes Dilemma: The Presence of the Emeritus Predecessor -- Francis At Work: A Minimalist Global Office -- Gossiping "Coprophagia": Francis on Slander and Fake News -- PART TWO. CHANGING THE STORY -- Digital Disruption: A Revolution in Communication -- Francis and Mammon: Reforming the Vatican Money Changers -- Francis Speaks Out: A Poor Church for the Poor -- PART THREE. THE QUALITIES OF MERCY -- "Be Praised!" Francis on Our Common Home -- Women in the Church: Francis Attacks Misogyny -- The Dilemma of Divorce and Remarriage: From Casuistry to Mercy -- The Joy of Love: The "Economy" of Mercy Without Heresy -- PART FOUR. ANNUS HORRIBILIS -- Trouble in Chile: Francis Embroiled in the Sexual Abuse Scandal -- Resign! Francis Accused of Cover-up -- Origins of Clerical Abuse: Priests, Gay Priests, and Abusers -- PART FIVE. CHURCH IN THE WORLD -- God of Many Religions: Reaching Out to Judaism and Other Faiths -- Europe and the Faith: A Post-Christian Continent --17: The Two Churches in China: Francis Takes Risks for Unity --PART SIX. BELOVED AMAZON --18: Pachamamas in the Sanctuary: Francis Brings the Amazon to Rome -- Amazon Synod: Priestly Celibacy and the Rain Forests -- World, Interrupted: Francis in the Time of Coronavirus -- PART SEVEN. CONTAGION OF HOPE -- The Francis Effect: Opposing Verdicts on Francis -- A Young Church: Our Hope for Years to Come -- Francis the Modernist: Myths of Tradition and Liberalism -- Who Is He Like? Francis and Gregory the Great -- A Personal Postscript.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Note:"Pope Francis is prepared to say "bring on the collapse", as perhaps the only way of purging a disgraced Church. "It is not impossible," Francis has said, "that I will go down in history as the one who split the Catholic Church?" However, for Catholics as a whole, the Church will, if Francis is successful, be a friendlier, more empathetic, presence in their lives. Bestselling author, Vanity Fair regular contributor, scholar and teacher John Cornwell argues that the disruptions of Pope Francis are a calculated gamble, offering hope for vast numbers Catholics who feel excluded, demoralized, scandalized. The Catholic Church, numbering 1.2 billion members, is in crisis at every level. More than a third of America's 74 million Catholics said they were contemplating departure in 2018. It is estimated that over the past twenty years the Catholic Church has been losing $2.5 billion dollars annually in revenues, legal fees, and damages due to clerical abuse cases. The decline in church attendance, marriages, and vocations to the priesthood and sisterhoods, tell a story of major decline and disillusion. Cornwell's big and controversial message is that Pope Francis is attempting to reverse the tide of disgrace and disillusionment by disrupting entrenched ways of Catholic thinking and working directly against over a thousand years of history and tradition as he does. His strategy looks like havoc; and he himself recognizes the danger of his strategy. Conservative members of the faithful, from cardinals to lay people, have attempted to thwart him, the conservative Catholic media have condemned and disparaged him. They look to his successor to reverse the "Francis Effect": but Cornwell claims that what he has set in motion is unstoppable."-- Provided by publisher.
