Anthony Mccarten - A two pápa

The latest book from the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of The Theory of Everything and Darkest Hour is about an unprecedented takeover, the world's most powerful religious institution and two very different men - who both happen to live in the Vatican.

In February 2013, the arch-conservative XVI. Pope Benedict made a shocking announcement: he submitted his resignation. He was the first pope to voluntarily abdicate in more than 700 years. The college of cardinals, giddy at the news, rushed to the Sistine Chapel in Rome to choose his successor. And, surprisingly, who did they choose? Francis, the first non-European pope in 1,200 years, who once worked as a bouncer at a tango club, was also an avid soccer fan and understood the language of the people.

Why did Benedek step back at the top of his career, knowing that his successor could be someone who could even nullify his legacy with his opposing views? And how did Ferenc - who took the bus to work in his hometown of Buenos Aires - adapt to a life in which he has a billion followers? If - as the Church claims - the pope is infallible, then how can two living popes who hold opposing views on almost everything be both right?

Anthony McCarten carefully researched their lives to write The Two Popes and masterfully weaves their stories into one compelling narrative. In this book, we can get to know the character-forming experiences of Benedict and Francis in war-torn Germany and Argentina, and we get an insight into the simultaneously dark and exciting world of Vatican intrigue and comedy, as well as the sexual abuse scandals that shook one of the world's most opaque, yet most important institutions to its foundations.