Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis Is Misleading His Flock by Philip F Lawler

Hardback: Infallible, but wrong.

Faithful Catholics are beginning to realize it is not their imagination. Pope Francis has led them on a journey from joy to unease to alarm and even a sense of betrayal. As certain fundamental doctrines of morality come into question, it is impossible to pretend that he represents merely a change of papal style.

Assessing the confusion stirred up in this pontificate, one of America's most astute Vatican observers explains what is at stake, what is not at stake, and how loyal believers should respond.

The Roman pontiff should be a source of unity in the Church, but an autocratic style and a radical agenda have made Francis the most divisive pope in modern times. Although he initially charmed the world with his refreshingly unscripted comments and gestures of humility, it has become clear that this is a pope with "friends" and "enemies." He aggressively promotes the former - in the Vatican, the College of Cardinals and the world's major sees - while marginalising, humiliating and even insulting the latter.

Neglecting the reform of the dysfunctional Vatican bureaucracy and the resolution of the sex-abuse scandals, Francis has devoted himself to opening Communion to the divorced and remarried. Bishops, priests, and laymen dismayed by the resulting confusion in Catholic teaching wonder which doctrine will be up for grabs next.

Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis Is Misleading His Flock (2018) sounds an alarm: the confusion is dangerous. But loyal Catholics will find this book profoundly encouraging. The Church's teaching is constant. If the bishop of Rome obscures the Faith, the other bishops must clarify it. For all his authority, the pope cannot change doctrine. Papal infallibility is an extremely narrowly drawn doctrine, but Christ's promise "I am with you always" is unconditional.

About the author: Philip F Lawler, the editor of Catholic World News, is one of America's most incisive Catholic journalists and commentators. A graduate of Harvard College, he has been the editor of Crisis magazine, the Boston Pilot, and Catholic World Report. He is the author of Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture (2008), a penetrating analysis of the scandals that brought the Church to its knees in America, and co-author of A Call to Serve: Pope Francis and the Catholic Future (2013). The father of seven and grandfather of twelve, Lawler lives in central Massachusetts with his wife, Leila, a popular Catholic blogger.