Reading Francis

If you’re used to hearing about Pope Francis from news reports, and you’re more inclined to care about social, political or economic issues, you may be wondering whether to just skip to the parts that pertain to those issues. You can, of course. That’s what the secular media (and most of the Catholic media) did. But I’d advise against it, and here’s why: if you don’t take the time to understand what Francis really cares about and why he makes the statements he does, you’re really not reading Francis. You’re just reading yourself into Francis. And you’ll never learn anything that way.