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This in-depth biography expertly examines who the new American Pope few expected really is-and what his legacy within the Catholic Church might become. When Robert Francis Prevost OSA appeared on the loggia of St. Peter''s on 8th May 2025, he surprised the world. The first American pope is a quiet man few had heard of, following the legacy of one the most media savvy pontiffs in history. Yet with subtle gestures, Pope Leo has shown that, while he is in continuity with Francis, he is also a bridge-builder, a man willing to unite the factions in a deeply divided Church. In this comprehensive biography, veteran journalist Christopher R. Altieri explores Prevost''s life and work, from his early years in Chicago to his ministry in Peru, and how he came to be chosen as leader of the world''s 1.4 billion Catholics. Altieri provides insight into the politics of the 2025 conclave, alongside Pope Leo''s choice of papal name, and the major challenges and deep-rooted problems of the Church that he now must run; a church that is barely solvent, a Vatican rife with corruption and mismanagement, financial scandal and a lack of judicial transparency - and all at a time when the world is asking big questions about what it means to be human in a complex ethical world of AI and global conflict. Through this Pope Leo emerges as a quiet man of true humility, with a track record as an efficient administrator and conciliatory figure, whose background in Canon Law might just offer him the skills needed to govern and reshape the modern Church.
List of contents
Preface and acknowledgmentsChapter 1: A radical choiceProfile of a pope
Pope Leo: What happened?
The Challenge of Reform
What reform looks like
No "Golden Age"
Chapter 2: A restless heart(Extra)ordinary beginnings
Cerca y personal: Augustinian, missionary, prior
Prior general, bishop, cardinal
The hand of providence
Chapter 3: "Peace be with all of you."Radically moderate
The power-and limits-of gestures and signs
Strange bedfellows: The College of Cardinals in brief
The conclave of May 2025 in context
Vicar of Christ: The man and the office
Chapter 4: An Augustinian popePower and order in the Augustinian mind
One commonwealth of all Christians: In illo uno unum
Journeying together
Pope Leo XIV: Two keys to understanding
Human nature and power in society: an Augustinian view
Citizen and stranger
Augustinian optimism
Chapter 5: A Lion of springtimeTechnological eclipse
Worse (and also better)
Attention deficit
How the Church communicates
Leo XIV and the "culture of encounter"
From the personal to the institutional - continuities and discontinuities
Interlude: The State of the Vatican (and the state of the Church)Reform "on the go"
Teaching and governance: Fernández in the DDF
In form for action(?): The Church on the international stage
The Church's shifting centre of gravity
Things come to a head: Fiducia supplicans
Unsustainable: Vatican finances in crisis
Looking forward: The papal in-tray
Chapter 6: Communications, curial culture, SynodalityThe challenge of reform: Vatican Communications
Communication as listening: "Synodality" and the Synod of Bishops
Romanitas
Institutional memory
In short
Chapter 7: Financial reformMisconceptions
Peter's Pence: Myth, facts, conjecture
Signs of the times
A threefold challenge for Pope Leo XIV
A long time coming
The bottom line
Chapter 8: Reform of justiceLeo XIV: Unfinished business
Justice in a fallen world
Practical challenges: Justice as closeness to victims
The requirements of natural justice
Natural justice and judicial independence
Reserve powers
The conciliarist controversy and its aftermath
Chapter 9: The nature and limits of papal governing powerGoverning power as such
Justice in the ecclesiastical system
Twin challenges: transparency and judicial independence
Secretly untenable
What could Pope Leo XIV do?
Preliminary indications: theory and practice
An investigative arm
A Matter for the Synod of Bishops?
Making the pallium mean something (again)
Conclusion: Drivers of crisisNotes
About the author
Christopher R. Altieri holds a PhD (research doctorate in philosophy) from the Pontifical Gregorian University, and was Executive Editor of the
Catholic Herald. He has nearly two decades' experience in journalism.
An expert on the Vatican, Altieri is an accomplished investigator who has broken and reported major stories on a host of issues related to Church governance. His books include
How To Read the News without Losing Your Faith (2021, CTS) and
Into the Storm: Chronicle of a Year in Crisis (2020, TAN Books).
