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The Pontiff In Winter
Triumph And Conflict In The Reign Of John Paul II
by John Cornwell
The journalist and author ("Hitler's Pope") examines the 25+ year reign of Pope John Paul II in this book published five months before the Pontiff's death.
Doubleday, 352 pages
11/02/2004
$24.95
ISBN: 0385514840
Nonfiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Religion
NOTES:
Also known as "The Pope In Winter."
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
Washington Post James Carroll
Cornwell writes with a clear sense of the unprecedented emergency that grips all forms of religion in the post-Sept. 11 era, and in that light, he dissects the record of John Paul II's pontificate with an informed, dispassionate and fully convincing authority.
London Review Of Books Terry Eagleton
Probably the greatest crime of John Paul’s papacy is his insistence that condoms are inherently evil even when used to forestall fatal infection – a position which, as Cornwell bravely acknowledges, has condemned untold numbers of Catholics to almost certain death.
The Guardian Stephen Bates
A devastating report. Catholics should read it, if not to change their views - though perhaps it should - then at least to inform them.
The Independent Catherine Pepinster
John Paul II will certainly go down in history as one of the dominant figures of his age, but as much for his achievements as for the failures, which Cornwell so devastatingly records in an account which is more polemic than biography.
The Independent Peter Stanford
This is no hatchet job. It is a serious work with important conclusions for the immediate future of the Catholic Church.
The Guardian John Cornwell
Sometimes Cornwell puts quite a ferocious spin on some of the facts. He is out to make a stir. But even the Tablet said this was a book worth reading. Don't take my word for it.
The New York Times Book Review Christopher Caldwell
But Cornwell is inconsistent, and even canting, when he seeks the causes of the American scandal.
The Economist
By resolutely strengthening the centre during his papacy, Mr Cornwell says, John Paul II has demoralised the periphery into sullen silence. In referring to the “periphery”, Mr Cornwell overreaches himself. He is really interested only in those of the world's 1 billion Catholics who are liberal westerners like himself.
Boston Globe Jason Berry
Praising the current pope for his accomplishments, Cornwell's critique is eloquent, with well-reported insights about the Vatican. His conclusion, however, is rather sweeping... [His] judgment is too harsh.
Daily Telegraph Damian Thompson
A hatchet job... So unfair is Cornwell to his subject that, paradoxically, he distracts attention from the Pope's genuine failures.
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