The election of Pope Francis represents not only a great historical event, but also a key moment for understanding the direction of the Catholic Church. In this illuminating work, Massimo Faggioli offers his unique insight into the pontificate of Pope Francis. This is not a biography of Pope Francis, nor a complete chronicle of the early months of his pontificate. It is, rather, an attempt to capture some special moments and some key issues at the heart of the transition from Pope Benedict XVI to Francis, with the intuition that this unexpected transition—how it is carried out, and what it has given rise to—reveals something which is not only a special “Catholic event,” but also a particular historical moment in a tradition in flux: a tradition that touches the contemporary world far beyond the borders of Rome and Roman Catholicism. †