|
|
Article: Good pope, bad pope.('Pope John XXIII')
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- March 8, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Pope John XXIII
Thomas Cahill
Lipper/Viking, $19.95, 241 pp.
Good Pope John. Bad Pope John Paul. Those who like their biography Manichean-style will enjoy Thomas Cahill's book on John XXIII. Those who don't will be entertained, informed, and ultimately disappointed.
With his contribution to the Penguin Lives series, Pope John XXIII, Cahill, the best-selling author of How the Irish Saved Civilization (Anchor Press) and other works, has actually written two books. The first is an engaging account of John's life, filled with anecdotes and lively writing. The second is a polemic that bookends this biography. The book's opening seventy pages, "Before ...