ROME -- By his gestures towards the marginalised, Pope Francis helps people see God’s love  as proclaimed by Christianity.  But at times his words cause confusion which, according to the American archbishop, Charles Chaput, is the work of the devil.

 He has won huge approval, partly from those convinced he is renovating the Catholic Church and partly from those convinced he is dismantling it, and await his first declaration in favour of abortion. He seems a favourite uncle but if you look closer he is enigmatic.  Three English journalists have joined his many biographers: two use ‘promise’ in their titles but really they all talk about  expectations which are pitched so high that some disappointments seem inevitable. 

 All three authors are enthusiastic about Francis, somewhat unfair to his immediate predecessors, inclined to call changes what are merely developments ( for instance in his appointment of cardinals from distant countries ) and mistakenly label those who have reservations about Francis as a minority of doddering reactionaries in the Vatican.

 Willey, long-time BBC correspondent in Rome, ventures into some unlikely byways such as stories about the Vatican Museums which, although interesting, have little to do with  Francis.   But his account of the attempt to reshape Vatican communications reveals the problems of reforming the Church’s central bureaucracy, the Roman Curia. 

 Cardinal George Pell persuaded Sir Chris Patten, former governor of Hong Kong, to head a commission to overhaul the communications set-up ( the daily paper, the press office, the publishing house, the television and radio ).    It decided that for greater efficiency, duplication had to cease and the 600 staff had to be cut, particularly those of the Vatican radio.   But Francis has decided that no one can be sacked.  Good for him but not for reform.   “If not now, when?” asked Patten.

 Willey describes himself as a lapsed Catholic, Jimmy Burns as a cradle one. He spent years as a correspondent in Buenos Aires. Jesuit-educated, he claims that  Jesuit education, with its training in seeing the good beyond the Church while being innovative in attracting people to it, is the key to Francis the Jesuit.

 He shows detailed knowledge and admirable objectivity about the future pope’s Argentinian years, and spots two transformative experiences.

 At 36 the future pope, who had been a soccer fan and tango dancer as an adolescent, was made head of the Argentinian Jesuits when the country was in social turmoil and the Jesuits were bitterly divided between radicals and conservatives.  He surprised those who knew him by governing as an unbending authoritarian which is probably a useful background for someone who, as pope, has to handle authoritarians in the Roman curia.  

 Moreover, he was discreet in offsetting the repressive regime, doing what he could but not putting his head above the parapet. Considered divisive, he was replaced after a few years. When made a bishop in Buenos Aires he changed, both caring for the most disadvantaged in the shanty towns and criticizing the corrupt Kirchner regime.

 Paul Vallely is also strong on the pope’s Argentinian background but stronger on Francis as pope.  This is an expanded edition of his Untying the Knots with nine additional chapters. It notes Francis’s third transformation: some Argentinian Jesuits called the future pope ‘the man who never smiles’, when he became  bishop he was nicknamed ‘Horseface’ because of his glum mein but as pope he  is joyous and smiling. Instead of being weighed down by his responsibilities, he seems relaxed reshaping the papacy.  And the formerly media-shy man now could pass as a media whore.

 His cardinal electors wanted him to clean up the Vatican turf wars and financial  scandals.  So far his major success has been with the finances as there have been no scandals since he has placed them in the hands of Cardinal Pell.  (Vallely makes one of his rare mistakes in saying that Pell’s planned pooling of all Vatican resources for investment purposes (Vatican Asset Management ) is functioning but, in fact, it has not yet got off the ground).

 But Francis’s other major Vatican reform is proving more difficult. It is his attempt to give more powers to the Synod of Bishops so that the bishops’ representatives govern together with the pope and the imperious Roman Curia is reduced to providing administrative support. The Synod usually assembles every three years but it has a permanent office in Rome.  Before Francis, its periodic assemblies were just talk- shops on  selected topics whose discussions later flowed into a papal document. 

 However, Francis told the national bishops conferences to send a questionnaire to Catholics on the topic for 2014 (the Family) and has used the response for another synod on the subject last October.  He provoked an ongoing debate in the church, particularly about whether Communion should be allowed for divorced Catholics who have remarried, and the attitude to homosexuals.

 At the 2014 Synod, George Pell accused the new Synod presidency, appointed by Francis,  of ‘manipulating matters’ which is the sort of accusation which used to be made against the old Curia.    

 When Popes are elected, they have to ‘keep the deposit’. This is not a reference to the Vatican Bank but to the doctrines which express the Church’s faith. Some bishops think that Francis fosters confusion about these whereas he says he sticks to tradition but is asking bishops to be more pastorally creative.

 This contrast emerged forcefully in the two Synods.  The opposition would be negligible if it was confined to curial reactionaries but it is far more widespread, including many bishops in the fast- growing church in Africa, and in Eastern Europe 

 The three books provide an insight into Francis’ transformations but raise the question of whether, with the contrasts which have surfaced, he will be able to keep smiling.

Francis: Pope of Good Promise, Jimmy Burns, Constable, 432 pp, £20

The Promise of Francis, David Willey, Gallery Books, 312 pp, £10.75 on Amazon

Pope Francis: Untying the Knots, Paul Vallely, Bloomsbury, 470 pp, £15.29

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