Pope Francis: My Door is Always Open

8:20 pm 15 November 2017

My Door is Always Open: A Conversation on Faith, Hope and the Church in a Time of Change - Pope Francis

I had a hard time rating this until I reminded myself I was rating the book not the Pope. The Pope's part in the book is brilliant and I genuinely loved reading his words. The author's part was more problematic for me. Spadaro took on the roles of both interviewer and interpreter of the Pope's message, and I found his explanations to be denser and wordier than the Pope's original words. His desire to expound and explain the Pope's message came from a sincere and heartfelt place, and I often got the impression it was his way of re-experiencing these interviews, but I also could not get the word 'mansplaining' out of my head, which is probably unfair, but there it is. Eventually, I just skipped his sections of analysis and just focused on Pope Francis' words. Ultimately, this made a huge difference for me, and I was unable to put the book down.

Definitely a work meant for a select demographic, but worth the time.

Book themes for Hogmanay / New year’s eve / Watch night / St. Sylvester’s Day: Read a book about the papacy.