From the moment Pope Francis stepped on to the balcony of St Peter's, people around the globe sensed that not only the Catholic Church, but the world at large, could be entering a new spiritual, political and social age. The pomp and circumstance that had characterised the Vatican for as long as most people could remember evaporated as Francis asked the throng gathered in the square to "pray over" him before he gave his first blessing." "Not since John XXIII, had a new Pope opened the windows of the Church so widely to let in some much needed fresh air.

This biography of Pope Francis...