Listen free for 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
To Change the Church cover art

To Change the Church

Written by: Ross Douthat
Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.30

Buy Now for $21.30

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

A New York Times columnist and one of America's leading conservative thinkers considers Pope Francis' efforts to change the church he governs.

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936, today Pope Francis is the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Francis' stewardship of the church, while perceived as a revelation by many, has provoked division throughout the world. "If a conclave were to be held today", one Roman source told The New Yorker, "Francis would be lucky to get 10 votes."

In To Change the Church, Douthat explains why the particular debate Francis has opened - over communion for the divorced and the remarried - is so dangerous: how it cuts to the heart of the larger argument over how Christianity should respond to the sexual revolution and modernity itself, how it promises or threatens to separate the church from its own deep past, and how it divides Catholicism along geographical and cultural lines. Douthat argues that the Francis era is a crucial experiment for all of Western civilization, which is facing resurgent external enemies (from ISIS to Putin) even as it struggles with its own internal divisions, its decadence, and self-doubt. Whether Francis or his critics are right won't just determine whether he ends up as a hero or a tragic figure for Catholics. It will determine whether he's a hero or a gambler who's betraying both his church and his civilization into the hands of its enemies.

©2018 Ross Douthat (P)2018 Simon & Schuster Audio

What listeners say about To Change the Church

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Shockingly insightful

This book is an exceptional account of the last 50 years of Catholic Christianity and of the crux that the current pontificate has led us to. It sets aside the fears or strategic concerns that have often prevented Catholics (both those faithful to and those irritated by Tradition) from speaking honestly about the current bishop of Rome and the faith he preaches. It is strikingly balanced in Douthat’s impeccable journalistic style. It forces the reader to be introspective (and prayerful?) about how to heal the beleaguered Body of Christ, perhaps specifically by rediscovering the true meaning of the papacy in an orthodox light that is more ancient than Pastor Aeternus.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!