The Two Popes cover art

The Two Popes

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
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 £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

The Two Popes

By: Anthony McCarten
Narrated by: John Lee
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

On 28 February 2013, a 600-year-old tradition was shattered: the conservative Pope Benedict XVI made a startling announcement. He would resign. Reeling from the news, the College of Cardinals rushed to Rome to congregate in the Sistine Chapel to pick his successor. Their unlikely choice? Francis, the first non-European pope in 1,200 years, a onetime tango club bouncer, a passionate football fan, a man with the common touch.

From the prize-winning screenwriter of The Theory of Everything and Darkest Hour, The Two Popes is a fascinating, revealing and often funny tale of two very different men whose destinies converge with each other and the wider world.

How did these two men become two of the most powerful people on Earth? What is it like to be the Pope? What does the future hold for the Catholic Church?

The Two Popes is a dual biography that masterfully combines these two popes' lives into one gripping narrative. From Benedict and Francis' experiences of war in their homelands - when they were still Joseph and Jorge - and the sexual abuse scandal that continues to rock the church to its foundations, to the intrigue and the occasional comedy of life in the Vatican, The Two Popes glitters with the darker and the lighter details of life inside one of the world's most opaque but significant institutions.

©2019 Anthony McCarten (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Christianity Pope Funny War Middle Ages

Listeners also enjoyed...

Church, Interrupted cover art
The Shoes of the Fisherman cover art
Benedict XVI: A Life, Volume One cover art
The St. Gallen Mafia cover art
The Vivaldi Cipher cover art
The Life and Legacy of Pope John Paul II cover art
Dorothy Day cover art
Absolute Power cover art
Stretching the Heavens cover art
God and Ronald Reagan cover art
One Soul at a Time cover art
The Devil and Bella Dodd cover art
A New Ireland cover art
The Divine Plan cover art
A Pope and a President cover art
The Smoke of Satan: How Corrupt and Cowardly Bishops Betrayed Christ, His Church, and the Faithful . . . and What Can Be Done About It cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Thoroughly enjoyed.
A real good book to anyone interested in the ongoing between two very polar opposite popes. Lots of links to the film but a very interesting book

Interesting

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

Introducing Benedict and Francis separately and together in effect shows the frailty of Roman Catholicism but fails to offer any sign post to its survival. There’s plenty of food for thought for anyone searching for answers.

Where to next?

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

My error was watching the film before realising there was a book. As usual the book went into such detail and insight it was so much more interesting. I enjoyed it very much

Interesting insight

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