Pope Francis: Untying The Knots by Paul Vallely

Paperback:  From his first appearance on a Vatican balcony on 13 March 2013, Pope Francis, the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church, proved himself a Pope of Surprises.

With a series of potent gestures, history's first Jesuit pope - the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Southern hemisphere, and the first to take the name of Francis - declared a mission to restore authenticity and integrity to a Catholic Church bedevilled by sex abuse and secrecy, intrigue and in-fighting, ambition and arrogance.  He declared it should be 'a poor Church, for the poor'.

But there is a hidden past to this modest man with the winning smile.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was previously a bitterly divisive figure.  His decade as leader of Argentina's Jesuits left the religious order deeply split.  And his behaviour during Argentina's Dirty War, when military death squads snatched innocent people from the streets, raised serious questions - on which this book casts new light.

Yet something dramatic then happened to Jorge Mario Bergoglio.  He underwent an extraordinary transformation.  After a time of exile, he re-emerged having turned from a conservative authoritarian into a humble friend of the poor.  He changed his leadership style to allow consultation and participation, particularly among the poorest people.  He quadrupled the number of priests in the shanty-towns and earned himself the title of 'Bishop of the Slums', making enemies among Argentina's political classes in the process.

For Pope Francis:  Untying The Knots (2013), Paul Vallely travelled to Argentina and Rome to meet Bergoglio's intimates over the last four decades.  His book charts a remarkable journey.  It reveals what changed the man who was to become Pope Francis - from a reactionary into the revolutionary who is unnerving Rome's clerical careerists with the extent of his behind-the-scenes changes.  In this perceptive portrait, Paul Vallely offers both new evidence and penetrating insights into the kind of pope Francis could become.

About the author:  Paul Vallely is a writer and consultant on religion, international development, and business ethics.  He is the author of the internationally-acclaimed best-selling biography Pope Francis - Untying the Knots.  Its sequel Pope Francis - The Struggle for the Soul of Catholicism is published by Bloomsbury in September 2015.

He is Visiting Professor in Public Ethics and Media at the University of Chester and Senior Honorary Fellow at the Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester.  He has worked in newspapers, broadcasting, with aid agencies, government and church organisations for more than two decades.  He has produced award-winning reports from more than thirty countries in the developing world.