Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-225) and index.

Many people see Pope Francis using his authority to address global crises, from climate change to the scourge of global poverty. But he has divided his church by seeking changes, especially around marriage, sexuality and divorce, that many Catholics believe are betrayals not only of church teaching but of the words of Jesus Christ himself. Douthat shows how the major debate Francis has opened-- over communion for the divorced and remarried-- divides Catholicism along geographical and cultural lines. Amid populist surges, mass migration, and reawakened extremism, is Francis offering a Christian alternative to the status quo, or trying to reconcile the church to a modern world that's exhausted and corrupt?