15 days to choose Pope Francis

The Wall Street Journal’s new e-book, “Pope Francis: From the End of the Earth to Rome,” chronicles the unlikely ascension of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy. The book tells the story of the a private dinner hosted by American Cardinals. The dinners are seen as the “conclave within a conclave,” where frank discussions on the succession are held away from the formal meetings of the Congregation. The WSJ e-books tells how the cardinals began to discuss a half-dozen candidates when someone brought up Cardinal Bergoglio’s name. By the end of the night, his name did not generate much buzz. Two days after the dinner, the tipping point happened. It was during Cardinal Bergoglio’s speech at the General Congregation. On March 7, the Argentine took out a sheet of paper with hand-written Spanish bullet-points that he delivered in Italian. Unlike other speakers who went before him, he talked about “the elephant in the room: the long-term future of the church and its recent history of failure.” The leaders of the Catholic Church, Bergoglio warned had become too focused on itself. Bergoglio said, “When the church is self-referential, inadvertently, she believes she has her own light; she ceases to be the mysterium lunae and gives way to that very serious evil, spiritual worldliness.” That was when the Cardinals took notice. For days they had heard speeches about “new evangelization.” Suddenly, they were hearing someone speak about justice, human dignity. Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George told The Wall Street Journal Bergoglio spoke “in a very straightforward way.” George said, “More than the content—it was simply a reminder that here is someone who has authenticity in such a way that he’s a wonderful witness to the discipleship.” By Sunday, March 10, two days before the start of the conclave, a new narrative was taking hold among the cardinals. Cardinal Bergoglio was now a contender.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal.