Review: My Door Is Always Open

My Door Is Always Open: A Conversation on Faith, Hope and Church in a Time of Change is a book that compiles a series of interviews that Pope Francis had with Fr. Antonio Spadaro, Editor of an Italian Jesuit Journal. The interview seeks to answer several questions such as how the Pope came to Christ, people who influenced him in his younger days, etc. It also covers topics such as the role of women in the church, the church’s stand on homosexuality, the church’s role in the world today, etc. I’m going to keep this review short because I don’t have much to say. I did not enjoy reading this book at all. Quite frankly it was one of the worst books I have come across yet. The reason for this is not the topics that the book covers but the way in which it is presented. This book is certainly not meant for a lay person to read. There are references to art, theology, etc which the author doesn’t care to explain. What’s worse is that the author seems to flit back and forth between topics often forgetting to make a particular point only to go ahead and make it at some later stage in the book. After a point I was basically skimming through the pages because I didn’t have the patience to read it in detail. I would like to state for the record however that this is by no means an indication of what I think about the Pope. I greatly admire the man and respect the views that he has. Infact the only reason I’m not giving this the lowest possible rating of 1, is because I liked the parts of the book where the Pope talked about the role of women and his opinion on homosexuality. I admire him for being very clear about his views and for being a Pope who isn’t afraid to speak his mind. As I conclude, the only persons I would recommend this book to is hard core Catholics who are well read and know sufficiently enough about art and theology. I would suggest that everyone else steer clear of this book. My Rating: 1.5/5