Pope John Paul II:
An Intimate Life
The Pope I Knew So Well
by Caroline Pigozzi
I rarely have the time or desire to read a book cover to cover in one sitting. But Caroline Pigozzi's Pope John
Paul II: An Intimate Life kept me fascinated from the moment she spoke of the tremendous effort required to seek
an audience with the pope, to the very last page, fondly remembering the last of their many interviews. Frankly, I
expected the book to be either a drumbeat of a recently passed great person, glossing over his human traits to
expound only on his superior ones. Or some sort of an expose, glossing over his superior traits to focus on his less
than human traits. It was neither. This is a very intimate look into the politics and machinations of the Vatican
and a very personal description of Karol Wojtyla, the boy, the man, the priest, the pope.
The reader sees a very personal study of the motivations and desires that drove him to greatness, fully realizing
there is no pretense or sham or gloss covering the facts of his life. We see him, the pope and the person, revealed
by the facts of his life and the personal stories he told, the intimate conversations with the author, his actions,
public and private. Throughout the book, his motivations for anything he did are apparent. And it seems his only two
aspirations were to unify the church and to be faithful to God. Lately we've seen any number of books on the
corruption of the papacy and the various popes' attempts to seek perfection by the office. But here we see the
office made perfect by the influence of the life of this pope. |
The Book |
Faith Words / Hachette Book Group |
September 2008 |
Hardcover reviewed from ARC |
978-0-446-50550-0 |
Memoir |
More at Amazon.com |
Excerpt |
NOTE: |
The Reviewer |
Chris Querry |
Reviewed 2008 |
NOTE: |
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