Culture | Pontificating autobiographies

Sex, drugs or chastity?

Pope Francis has written the first memoir by a sitting pope. God help us

An illustration of two hands holding pencils and writing on each other's sleeves, which resemble books.
Illustration: Ben Hickey

His Holiness Pope Francis—the 266th bishop of Rome, supreme pontiff of the Universal Church, sovereign of the Vatican City State—is a man with fancy titles, a simple soul and simpler prose. He likes punctuality (“I like punctuality”), does not feel worthy (“I feel unworthy”) and thinks war is stupid (“War is stupid”).

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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “The good, the bad and the boring”

From the January 25th 2025 edition

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