Last week Pope Francis released his first book composed as Pope. Styled as a conversation with veteran Rome reporter Andrea Tornielli, “The Name of God is Mercy” delivers Pope Francis at his very best.
This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the Holy Father. Many people in the world —and even in the Church — claim to understand the Pope. Many of them do not. “The Name of God is Mercy” provides the best insight yet into the heart and mind of Pope Francis.
Readers of his new book discover his fascination with the mercy of God. It is the principle theme of his pontificate. He describes in moving detail his own experience of God’s mercy. Far from a soft or live-and-let-live approach, the focus on mercy, he explains, presupposes sin. We first must recognize ourselves as sinners to receive God’s mercy.
Completely faithful to the Church’s perennial teaching, the Pope packages tough moral topics within the framework of God’s mercy. Three times in the book he explains when a priest may not be able to absolve a penitent—because they are in an irregular marriage, for example. He counsels compassion and “to offer a blessing.” He never once suggests that a teaching of the Church ought to be changed or reexamined.
The Pope wants to help people understand that the Church’s teachings are not rules subject to change but the truth that must be understood within the context of God’s unfailing mercy. In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Pope’s new book ought to be read and reread to understand his vision of the Church today.
