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Long life

Alexander Chancellor: What Pope Francis and Silvio Berlusconi have in common

The pope wants to bring the Church back to the days when it had no hierarchy or laws — but those days never existed

23 November 2013

9:00 AM

23 November 2013

9:00 AM

It’s filthy wet weather in Tuscany, so I’m lying on my bed in the afternoon reading through the Italian newspapers. They are full of stuff about Pope Francis — how his humility, his simplicity, and his reforming zeal are breathing new life into the Roman Catholic Church. They say that the long decline in church attendance in Italy has been reversed in the few months since a previously little-known bishop from Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was elected to the papacy.

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