Scan barcode
clare_tan_wenhui's review against another edition
3.0
Non-fiction such as is interesting sometimes not in merely stating what transpired, but more in speculating the agendas and motivations of what is not spelled out. While it is very easy for us to be like the author to detail countless factual instances, accounts of these two men, to justify his own suggestion of what the Catholic church needs to do going forward, even the author grudgingly concedes that the two protagonists must have reached a certain implicit mutual agreement of sorts. Just as how the disciples quarreled at the table of the supper, dispersed into hiding for the next three days, Christ's resurrection eventually brought them back together again, to form the church as it is today. These differences have persisted and will rear its head cyclically, but the thin thread of mutual understanding and unity still holding supposedly irreconcilable standpoints together, is proof of the existence of the divine at work, no matter what troubled times.
diannel_04's review against another edition
4.0
I have always had an interest in the history of the Catholic Church and the papacy, despite the fact that I left the church many years ago. I remember when Pope Benedict was elected. I thought it was a mistake. That he was too old fashioned and, although nothing could be worse than JP II, he certainly wouldn't be better. The fact that he was in the Hitler Youth made no difference to me since I know that it was illegal for him not to be. His silence on Holocaust and his cover up of the church sexual abuse scandal were much more problematic for me. I did not, however, know that at one point he had been seen as a progressive who changed his mind, shocking everyone. It almost seems as though he did what he had to do to get the approval of JP II. This book looks at all the things that made his papacy a royal mess especially his lack of people skills and knowledge of how real people live.
The contrast between him and Pope Francis is stark. Francis made many mistakes in his time in time as bishop of Buenos Aires but he has acknowledged and taken full responsibility for them. He is a humble man who even now lives a simple life. I have much more respect for him than I ever had for his two predecessors. He isn't able to make all the changes we would like but he tries and maybe sometime in the near future the Catholic Church will move into the 21st century.
I really enjoyed this book.
The contrast between him and Pope Francis is stark. Francis made many mistakes in his time in time as bishop of Buenos Aires but he has acknowledged and taken full responsibility for them. He is a humble man who even now lives a simple life. I have much more respect for him than I ever had for his two predecessors. He isn't able to make all the changes we would like but he tries and maybe sometime in the near future the Catholic Church will move into the 21st century.
I really enjoyed this book.
panda8882's review against another edition
4.0
I actually read the play that the movie was based on but can’t find it on here. It was really well written, just like the movie. As an on-again off-again Catholic, I really enjoyed it.
More...