Pope John XXIII: A Penguin Life (Penguin Lives) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "VATICAN PROPAGANDA notwithstanding, Peter was never "bishop of Rome..." (more)
Key Phrases: coming council, worker priests, John Paul, Pio Nono, Saint Peter (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The punchy Penguin Lives series is the best thing to hit popular biography in some time, and Thomas Cahill is just the fun and erudite guy to Penguinize Pope John XXIII. He captures both the irresistible character of Angelo "Little Angel" Giuseppe Roncalli, a peasant born in backwards Bergamo, and his place in world and church history. In fact, Cahill shows, as John XXIII, Angelo brought the church into the modern world in the 1960s, upsetting the poisoned apple cart of his nefarious predecessor, Pius X, whom Cahill convincingly likens to a Joe McCarthy with the private meanness of Nixon. John XXIII anticipated liberation theology by seven decades, reached out to Protestants and even non-Christians, and saved thousands of Jews from Hitler by wily machinations Cahill aptly compares to Paul's epistle to Philemon. (Cahill says it's unfair to brand Angelo's immediate predecessor, Pius XII, as Hitler's Pope--though he was a "moral pygmy" next to the giant John XXIII.) Cahill gives a quickie history of the Papacy that generations of cramming history students will thank God for, and includes just enough about Pope John's irreverent wit and way of life--the La Grenouille chef, the Jackie Kennedy friendship, the possibly apocryphal quip to a buxom woman wearing a crucifix ("What a Golgotha!"). An exemplary brief bio of an exemplary man. --Tim Appelo

From Publishers Weekly

Cahill uses the same felicitous prose and refreshing approach to history that characterized his bestselling books How the Irish Saved Civilization and The Gifts of the Jews, here offering a short biography of John XXIII, the "people's pope" who initiated the Second Vatican Council. Cahill begins with a brief thumbnail sketch of the papacy, a chapter so replete with memorable details that many readers will hope that Cahill will someday prepare a magnum opus on the subject. He then narrows in on Italian peasant Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (1881-1963), paying particular attention to his schooling in "social Catholicism," or the Church's official and unofficial interventions on issues such as poverty, war and community activism. In his twenties, he served as secretary to a bishop whose modernist leanings incensed the Vatican but deeply impressed the young Roncalli. As he rose through the ecclesiastical ranks, Roncalli managed to navigate a middle course between antimodernist rigidity on one hand and the liberals' tendency to jettison Church traditions on the other. When he was elected pope in 1958, most Catholics assumed he would be a transitional figure, never expecting that he would instigate the most sweeping reforms the Church had seen since the Catholic Reformation from doubling the salaries of Vatican employees to redefining some of the Church's foundational doctrines. Cahill tells Roncalli's story with sincere admiration for the liberal, loving, corpulent pope who did not live to see the completion of Vatican II. (Jan. 14)Forecast: Cahill is a well-established writer, with several previous bestsellers under his belt, so expect strong sales for this biography of the beloved pope. Viking plans a six-city author tour and national publicity, specifically targeting the Catholic market.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1st Edition. edition (January 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670030570
• ISBN-13: 978-0670030576
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #662,107 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This item is part of The Penguin Lives Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A big disappointment, March 18, 2004

By	William T. Barto "An Anxious Anglican" (Fairfax, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a short biographical essay on John XXIII sandwiched between pages and pages of anti-papal screed and pseudo-history. I have read all of the author's "Hinges of History" series, but will read him no more; Mr. Cahill's bias and cant are a barrier to the necessary trust between author and reader. Here's the book in a nutshell: reforming/liberal popes = good, conservative/traditional popes = bad. I am exaggerating only a little in my encapsulation! The author frequently substitutes assertion for argument, particularly in regard to the last pope, John Paul II. After re-reading the book, I am still unsure what it is that the author dislikes so much about the current pope except that he appears to be holding the line on traditional Catholic teaching. For all the much-vaunted tolerance of liberal believers, I was shocked by the author's repeated ad hominem attacks upon the character of popes and others who take views not sanctioned by the author. As for Mr. Cahill's liberal utopia, I suggest that he look at the Episcopal Church in the US for a picture of what the Church will look like if we vote on our doctrine and elect our bishops; I don't think it is an improvement! This book is a perfect example of the saying that "when orthodoxy becomes optional, orthodoxy will soon be prohibited." I have tried but cannot understand those (like the author) who want to belong to an organization with which they completely disagree and then want to make the organization over in their own image. There are plenty of non-hierarchical denominations out there if Mr. Cahill truly wants one. I recommend that you avoid this book or read only that portion of it dealing directly with John XXIII. A more scholarly alternative from the same perspective without the cant is Eamon Duffy's Saints and Sinners.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite a biography, December 17, 2003

By A Customer

I wanted to get a look at the pope, but I couldn't see past the chip on Cahill's shoulder. Make no mistake, this book is not primarily about Pope John XXIII (Angelo Roncalli). It is primarily about Cahill's opinion of the papacy as an institution. John just serves as a model for Cahill's ideal. A good half the book is spent bemoaning the shortcomings of other popes.

Even once the author gets around to talking about Roncalli's life, he still spends a fair amount of words complaining of the conservative programs of the popes at the given time. It's not until Roncalli becomes pope that the story squarely centers on him, at which point the book actually becomes quite good. If Cahill would have kept his focus on Roncalli throughout, the book would have been much better.

I'm a protestant, so I have no particular love for the idea of the papacy, but I was distinctly turned off by the scornful, condescending tone that Cahill takes toward even the idea of orthodoxy. In short, there's just too much of the author in this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Elegant book about a saintly man, September 6, 2002

By	Thomas A. Diederich (Dayton, OH United States) - See all my reviews

I discovered the author on the wonderful world of C-Span where one find authors not invited to Letterman, et all.

Thought now retired, I am still a slow reader-- and thus liked the brevity of Cahill's book. A still "recovering" Catholic, I wss enchanted with the story of John XXIII. Whatever the current Vatican may do, I regard him as saintly. Cahill's bio may be brief, but one gets a clear picture of a boy from a poor but devout rural Italian family. His pastor is well described, who was a lovig mentor. One sees this boy become the man Angelo Rancalli. And beyond as a priest he finds leaders who---it seems to me--- practice what they preach. At the same time Angelo manages to survive and become a leader, with no loss of integrity--in times of repression.

His success in helping Jews escape the Nazis is touched on, as well as the dramatic way he changed elements of anti-semitic liturgy.

This was a radical man--- in the best sense of the word. As I learned from the nuns years ago, Jesus was a true radical.
Cahill give us a history of the Church before and after John XXIII. At times witty, caustic, but clearly fond of this remarkable man.