“The Francis Miracle: Inside the Transformation of the Pope and the Church”
Author: John L. Allen Jr.
Publisher: Time
Release date: Tuesday, March 3
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Publisher’s synopsis: There is no other organization whose inner workings are more secretive than the Vatican — the spiritual and physical center of the Catholic Church.
Now, with a dynamic new leader in Pope Francis, all eyes are upon the Church, as this immensely popular Pope seeks to bring the Church back from the right to the center, in what can almost be described as a populist stance, blurring the lines between politics, religion, and culture.
With topics including women, finance, scandal, and reform at the fore, never before have so many eyes been upon the Church in what could be its defining moment for modern times.
Now the most respected journalist covering the Vatican and the Catholic Church today, John L. Allen Jr., reveals the inner workings of the Vatican to display the vast machinery and the man at the helm in a way that no other writer can.
Allen is associate editor of Crux and The Boston Globe, specializing in coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church.
He has written nine additional books on the Vatican and Catholic affairs, and also is a popular speaker on Catholicism both in the United States and internationally.
The London Tablet has called John “the most authoritative writer on Vatican affairs in the English language,” and renowned papal biographer George Weigel has called him “the best Anglophone Vatican reporter ever.” John’s weekly column, “All Things Catholic,” is widely read as a source of insight on the global Church.
Among John’s books are “Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church,” and two about Pope Benedict XVI. The first was written before Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became pope; the other came after Benedict’s election to the papacy and was the first biography of the Pope in English.
His articles have appeared in The New York Times, CNN, NPR, The Tablet, Jesus, Second Opinion, The Nation, the Miami Herald, Die Furche, and the Irish Examiner. He is a senior Vatican analyst for CNN, and was a correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter for 16 years.
John, a native of Kansas, received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Fort Hays State University and a master’s degree in religious studies from the University of Kansas. For several years, he taught journalism at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California and also supervised the student-run newspaper, The Knight.
He received an honorary degree, Doctor of Sacred Letters (D.S.Litt.), from the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto, Ontario in 2011.
