Pope Francis and the gift of ‘overflow’

October 28, 2022 in Featured Podcasts, News

Dr Austen Ivereigh was the keynote speaker at the launch of the Belfast Jesuit Centre for Spirituality » on Saturday 22 October 2022. The day-long event was attended by a large audience including Bishop Noel Traynor, Jesuits, colleagues, friends, and local people.

The title of his address in Belfast was “A New Imagination of the Possible: Pope Francis and the Gift of ‘Overflow’. A dialogue with Dr Austen Ivereigh, papal biographer and collaborator” and you can listen to it above.

Pat Coyle, Director of Irish Jesuit Communications, introduced British journalist and author Dr Austen Ivereigh saying he was one of the few journalists who knew Pope Francis really well, having authored two biographies of the pontiff, The Great ReformerFrancis and the Making of a Radical Reformer: and Wounded ShepherdPope Francis and His Struggle to Convert the Catholic Church. He had co-written with the Pope his book, Let Us DreamThe Path to a Better Future. And his doctoral thesis was on the church in Argentina – the Pope’s native home.

She also noted his commitment to the synodal process within the Catholic church saying that Dr Ivereigh was a member of the national synthesis team for the synod of England and Wales, and is on the continental synthesis team in Rome, where he also advises the synod secretariat on communications.

He writes regularly concerning papal matters for CommonwealAmerica magazine and the National Catholic Reporter about Pope Francis, and for The Tablet in the UK, where he has a column about applying Laudato Sí to his work on his small farm.