Peter Costello
Hope: the Autobiography
by Pope Francis, with Carlo Musso, translated by Richard Owen
(Penguin / Viking, £18.99 / €23.00)
I want You to Be Happy,
by Pope Francis
(Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99 / €20.50 )
Pope Francis, it must be always kept in mind, even by his critics, is a unique figure.
For the reference books he is the first Jesuit to be elected to the Papacy, the first Pope from the Americas, and from the Southern Hemisphere (‘the South’ of those who labour for social justice), and the first Pope to be born and grow up outside of Europe since the 8th century. That is quite a catalogue, one which overwhelms one with considerations.
And yet, I think, the key to the identity and character of Pope Francis is to be found in the fact that he is above all else an Argentinian of Italian descent.
North Americans, and even some Europeans, often take a dim view of ‘Latin Americans’ – it is this attitude that lies behind much of the blustering of the present administration in Washington, DC.
Characterisation
But the Argentinians defy that easy characterisation of sombrero wearing layabouts who drink too much and are often of “the wrong religion”, from the point of view of some North American evangelicals.
An indefinable part of Argentina’s population, for instance, is not of Spanish origin, as would be the case in Peru or Columbia, but of Italian descent. Pope Francis’s father was an accountant from the Piedmont region – where the notion of a united Italy was born. Just as many Italians left for the Americas when the Kingdom of Italy was beaten together and the Papal States abolished in the nineteenth century, so in the interwar years of the last century many Italians left for the Argentine to escape the advent of Mussolini. The Pope’s father was one. He was no poor, ragged peasant, but a middle class professional man.
The mind set and outlook of Argentinians always had this distinct European aspect to it – think of J L Borges”
This link with Europe was an important factor. Back in the 1920s North American influence on Argentina was also nonexistent (only some 6000 North Americans were recorded in the contemporary census). The links, personal, familial and intellectual were with Italy, France, and Spain to some extent, Germany and the United Kingdom (due to the large scale investments by the British in the Argentine). The mind set and outlook of Argentinians always had this distinct European aspect to it – think of J L Borges. It was a factor in the difficulties that North Americans have in understanding the Pope.
This is illustrated in this interesting autobiography, which was intended ab initio to appear posthumously; but has been brought forward, to provide a reflective and detailed account of his life and thought as the Pope sees it, appearing in time for the Church’s Jubilee Year of Hope.
Though naturally enough much of the book, and much of the curiosity of potential readers, will focus on what he has to say about current matters, we have to remember that the Pope is a man of many years. When he was 75 he offered his resignation as a bishop to the Pope; instead he was himself appointed a cardinal, and thus, late in life, became personally involved with the workings of the Vatican, and was in the position himself as member of the College of Cardinals to be elected Pope.
Outlook
But by this time his outlook and character was, as I say, fully formed. He brought to Rome the habits and ideas of a lifetime, a lack of ritualism and formality for the sake of formality, a sense of what it means to be a human being, moulded by the fact that he also came late to a vocation, having tried other jobs first. This is important as many in the Curia have little idea about how real people live and often die. They are detached from parish and diocesan life in a way that Jorge Mario Bergoglio never was in Buenos Aires.
When he became a Jesuit he spent some time here in Ireland, studying at Milltown Park. Yet strangely when Francis was elected Pope, no one in Jesuit circles in Ireland was able to recall anything about his time in Ireland. It may seem curious that an encounter with such a personality could slip the collective memory in Dublin; but there you are, it appears to have done.
One of the charms of Hope is the Pope’s own description of his earliest years, which accounts for a lot in his life”
The international publishers that have brought out Hope: The Autobiography claim that it is the first autobiography to be written by a reigning Pope. Given the continuous hyperbole that surrounds all kinds of publishing today, readers will not be surprised to learn that this is essentially untrue.
This claim disregards the memoirs of Enea Silvio Piccolomini, otherwise Pope Pius II, whose “commentaries” were, so it was believed at the time, written during the sleepless midnight hours which everyone suffers from at times, even Popes.
Piccolomini was Pope from 1458-1464. His memoirs are well known to Renaissance historians, and copies of the popular translation that appeared in 1960 are readily available. But perhaps a “Renaissance connoisseur and practising man of letters” (according to the Oxford Dictionary of Popes) does not count as a published author for a modern day publicity agent.
One of the charms of Hope is the Pope’s own description of his earliest years, which accounts for a lot in his life. His passion for soccer, for instance, about which he writes with great insight at the end of chapter seven. Equally moving is the account of the illness that cost him a lung as a seminarian- which was raised by his rivals later, to prevent him advancing to the papal throne.
Travelling
But, all in all, one has to warm to this man who enjoyed travelling round Buenos Aires by tube, and who confesses that one of the things he misses in his present situation, is being able to go out somewhere to enjoy a pizza. He has no mobile phone, does not use a computer, and does not watch television: verily a great human being, perhaps even a saint in the making.
Some reviewers have found the book boring. But at least it is the Pope’s own book. It has not been moulded by a ghost writer. He has however been assisted for many years by an editorial assistant Carlo Muss, beginning with The Name of God Is Mercy. But there is also evidence of the activities of an American copy editor who provides references for the quotations, but not to the editions which Pope Francis would have used. This though may be the work of translator Richard Dixon, for there is a preference for the most recent version of J L Borges for instance, from the same publishers, which are simply not as good as the earlier ones (at least to my taste), as they are translated into American.
All of us, in our different ways, have an investment in happiness, and would be content to follow the Pope’s thought on how it may be achieved, lived and preserved”
The second book listed above is very different, but equally revealing over all, of how the Pope sees the world.
If one wants to have a Pope Francis book to take up and read from time to time this would be it. In many ways it might be found more interesting than the autobiography. It consists of homilies composed over many years on the general theme of happiness; divided into some eight sections (they cannot be called chapters).
These short pieces are very revealing of the inner thoughts and feelings of the Pope, and will delight many different kinds of readers. All of us, in our different ways, have an investment in happiness, and would be content to follow the Pope’s thought on how it may be achieved, lived and preserved.
Perhaps given a choice, I would suggest the readers begin with I Want You to Be Happy, and then read the autobiography to learn exactly the nature of the life as lived that gave rise to them.