Francis, the Pope who went everywhere

It is one of the most important legacies of Francis' pontificate, the magisterium of peace in a rearming world. The speech seems to be written today, in light also of the latest war escalations and political decisions of states, but it dates back to 2014: 'There are economic systems that must wage war in order to survive. Then weapons are manufactured and sold, and so the budgets of economies that sacrifice man at the feet of the idol of money are of course healed. And no thought is given to the starving children in the refugee camps, no thought is given to the forced displacements, no thought is even given to the many broken lives'. Even then he spoke of the 'forgotten wars', of the world war in pieces, pieces that are gradually drawing closer together. Bergoglio's appeals that, reread today - also in the light of Leo XIV's message in one of his last speeches - appear sharper but whose significance was not grasped by many more than ten years ago. Strong positions, often against the tide, at the centre of controversy and criticism, which aroused great attention and sympathy even among those who were and are far from the faith.

A complex personality who left an enormous legacy, for the understanding of which Francesco. The Pope of Mercy. Jorge Mario Bergoglio seen up close, written by Andrea Tornielli, one of the journalists who knew him best, from his time as archbishop of Buenos Aires. He met him for the first time in 2005, at the time of the conclave that elected Benedict XVI - but where the Argentinean took many votes, as many as 40, as has since been amply confirmed - and from that moment on, Tornielli, then at the 'Giornale' and later at the 'Stampa' as Vaticanist and commentator, cultivated a close personal relationship with Bergoglio made up of meetings, phone calls, letters, from whose account also emerges a cross-section of the man-Bergoglio, seen through the eyes of a journalist and writer, with the caveat that most of the contents concern the period prior to his assumption in December 2018 of the position of director of the Vatican media, a position he still holds.

The book is a journey of the pontificate read through some particular events, interviews with the author, personal initiatives of the pontiff such as his frequent phone calls to people who never in their lives would have weighed receiving one from the pope, as in the case of the writer and bioethicist Mario Palmaro, who together with Alessandro Gnocchi had written a book - Que questo papa piace troppo - in which their articles in the daily newspaper "il Foglio" in which criticism of the pontificate was made were collected. Palmaro fell ill with cancer, Tornielli knew him well and on one occasion reported his condition to Bergoglio: shortly afterwards Francis called him, and in the course of the conversation he said he had understood the criticism that had been levelled at him, "and how important it was for him to receive it". The book recounts, from those who have experienced them at close quarters (including the writer), events of the pontificate that were also very critical, such as the trip to the Philippines in 2015, where a visit to Tacloban was planned, which had been hit by a terrible typhoon just over a year earlier and had caused ten thousand deaths. It is a risky stage, the weather is horrible, a small typhoon is on its way, but Bergoglio does not give up: one must go at all costs. The plane takes off at dawn, at the controls are the two best military pilots in the Philippines, the arrival is problematic, but the Pope disembarks. It is pouring down over the city and within minutes,' Tornielli recalls, 'the white robe is soaked, he is without an umbrella, he only puts on a yellow nylon mackintosh, practically useless. Everything freewheels: he delivers his homily arm in arm in Spanish (he does not read the text in English as planned), the wind exceeds 70 kilometres, he meets the survivors, his homily really affects everyone, perhaps it will remain a unique case in the pontificate. The departure is accelerated - recalls Alberto Gasbarri, the person in charge of papal travel at the time - 'very bad forecasts, if we don't take off by 1pm we risk not leaving,' he told the staff. The 30 kilometres to the airport were travelled in the open Popemobile in the pouring rain, and on take-off the plane staggered a lot, while the one carrying the Philippine government delegation, which took off less than an hour later, skidded and went off the runway. The day after, the concluding mass of the trip to Manila will be the best attended ceremony in history: an estimated 7 million worshippers.

Andrea Tornielli, Francesco. The Pope of Mercy. Jorge Mario Bergoglio visto da vicino, Edizioni Piemme, pp. 208, euro 18.90