The Accidental Pope

by Raymond Flynn, Robin Moore

The former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican and the bestselling author of The French Connection join forces to write an unforgettable novel about a humble fisherman who is elected pope.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Religion, Italy

400 pages, Paperback

First published December 11, 2000

Reviews

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun vacation read. As a Catholic and a diplomat, I was amused by the Vatican hijinks and the humor inherent in the idea of "accidentally" electing an unusual Pope. I appreciated the author's choice to include the working of the Holy Spirit in the process instead of trying to take only a worldly approach. For one thing, it acknowledges the mindset of Catholics that so many people try to dismiss today. It also helped with the suspense of disbelief at what could otherwise seem to be a contrived plot.

The characters were well written and distinct, and by the end of the book you really do love some of the main characters making it sad to see them go. There are some chapters that are purely character pieces, without much connection to the overall plot - this could be jarring for some readers, but for those familiar with reading short stories it's enjoyable, and it helped bring humor into some points that could otherwise be rather dull.

I was also highly amused at how often Pope Peter II reminded me of the current Pope Francis! Much of the criticism levered at the fictional pope sounds very much like the criticism of the real pope now, demonstrating how well the author understands the tensions between different factions within the Church as well as the various demands and expectations put on a pope.

The midlevel rating, though, is because of two points - the underdevelopment of certain plot points, and the tangible vitriol for the US State Department.

The election of "Pope Bill" and his installation are very well developed and written, but the back half feels rushed and like a puzzle missing several pieces. It's as though once the character was installed as Pope, the author realized he needed a juicier plot and so started spinning up various different problems and conspiracies to be solved. Unfortunately, none of them are really resolved. There's an attempt with the "encyclical" that covers everything and the kitchen sink, but seeing as the book ends with its publication and not its implementation, it feels more like a band-aid than a solution. There's lots of talk about reforming the Vatican Bank, but that never actually happens. And then there is a "conspiracy" in Africa with the Orthodox Church, but the only meetings with the Orthodox seem to "confirm" the conspiracy, and not do much about it. The solution presented is to bring in former priests and more laity to do missionary work in Africa, but there's also a missed opportunity for the US Ambassador character to help build international support for such work. Instead, the Church is left adrift trying to solve the problem of AIDS, genocide, and poverty on its own while the nations of the world continue on their merry commercial paths. Honestly, with the number of subplots introduced the back half of the novel could have become a series of shorter mystery novels. Perhaps that was how the author originally envisioned the story, only to settle on one novel.

I was also disappointed that the conversion of Colleen, the pope's daughter, was done completely "off-screen". This could have generated a lot of interesting discussions in the book as she questioned certain things, and found ways that the Holy Spirit was speaking to her as it was to her father. Instead, we're suddenly told by a cardinal that he has a "convert" and Colleen stands up to take communion at mass, with no explanation as to why she changed her mind or even what that ultimately meant to her. Aside from the pope, this had been the character I was most looking forward to seeing the development for, but it wasn't there.

The latter problem was the depiction of the State Department and career Foreign Service in the novel. Ray Flynn was a political appointee ambassador, and clearly had a rocky relationship with the Department. I'm no stranger to the tension that can arise between political appointees and career diplomats, it definitely exists. But the level of vitriol in the book was jarring. Every single one of the career characters was depicted as completely self-serving and incompetent, without any others to balance it. It really threw me out of the story several times, making me wonder if someone had poisoned the Ambassador's dog or something to engender such disgust. It also hindered the novel by limiting Amb. Kirby's role as a friend of the Pope. What work we did see being done by Kirby was most often damage control and trying to save his position, rather than actually working with the resources of a diplomat to address the world political problems seen in the book. Frankly, it was disappointing because, seeing the book had been written by a former Ambassador to the Vatican, I was looking forward to reading more about the US-Vatican relationship. Instead, that felt pushed to the side in favor of the personal friendship and media shenanigans.

In general, I'd say this is an amusing read for those who follow Church politics and are familiar with the usual arguments between traditionalists and modernists. Just don't take it too seriously.

[Gerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bill Kelly was a Roman Catholic priest for 6 years, who requested and received permission to be released from his vows in order to get married. Following his marriage, he took over his family business as a commercial fisherman off the coast at Cape Cod. He and his wife Mary raised 4 children. After more than 17 years of marriage, Mary died as a result of cancer.

After the hypothetical death of Pope John Paul II in 2000, the papal conclave to elect his replacement becomes hopelessly deadlocked. An unusual effort to break the deadlock results in the election of the widowed, father of four, ex-priest Bill Kelly. The fact that he is currently an "ex-priest" is not viewed as prohibitive on the basis of "once a priest, always a priest." Since the Cardinal-electors are bound by the rules, they must offer the papal position to Bill, but they fully expect he will laugh at the quirk that resulted in his accidental election. They are very much disturbed when he accepts the offer. In light of the fact that the first pope, i.e., St. Peter, was a married fisherman with a family, like himself, Bill chooses the name Pope Peter II.

After turning over his fishing business to his oldest son, Bill packs up the remainder of his family and moves to Vatican City facing controversy both within and outside his family. Surprising twists make this a most interesting read. I really enjoyed it.

[Book 25 of 2013 Target 50
(Jan-6; Feb-3; Mar-3; Apr-4; May-6; Jun-3)]

[Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting read and a great idea for a book. But the actual meat of the book was pretty boring and just seemed to drag on. The way he authors would jump to different scenes from one paragraph to the next was annoying. These small one paragraph scenes either should have been elaborated out a lot more, or rather just dropped out altogether. I felt that these scenes were just fillers. Not really adding to the story, just making it longer and a pain to read. I also thought the authors did a lot more telling than showing, which is a big turn off for me. I want to know what's going on inside the heads of the characters when something exciting happens, I wasn't to know what they are feeling. But instead the book pretty much went on like, this happened then this happened next, a character says one things, and someone else adds little to nothing else to the conversation.... For me a good story needs to have lots of conflict and setbacks, this one only had a few. But I did like the forward thinking idea of the book and it brings up great questions that the church needs to ask itself in these modern times.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

One star. This is an absolutely loathsome book, with its righteous disregard of people's humanity in the name of Catholicism. The horrible writing...men are always "strapping", and ignorant about emotions, and women and girls are always cooking and serving food, and having their concerns ignored. Women and girls are praised only for their appearance or their 'faith'. The genders are always rigidly binary, and the Catholic Church is always right. Hearing men discuss abortion while being completely ignorant of its implications, while yet being in charge of women's access to it...all help to make this book intolerable. And yet, when you look at it as Catholic fanfiction, as in, 'what would happen if a regular guy were made pope'... the book is briefly involving when it highlights all the historic mystery, magic, and mysticism. Until you realize that the regular guy is still party-line cruel and dismissive of any social justice. The narrator once mentions the "Church's subjugation of women". The authors are ignorantly or deliberately racist and bigoted in so many ways. (Gee, Jane, tell us how you really feel)

[Chelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I was reading this book I did not know if I liked it. The beginning was interesting and a good read but about half way through I became unmotivated. I felt like it was really dragging at some parts. The authors choose to call the characters by different names so there were times I was unsure who they were talking about. That being said, it was an overall enjoyable book. The idea that a layman could become pope is thought provoking. Even though I know what had to happen in order to end the book, I was surprised by how it was brought about and how emotional I was about it. Any book that makes you think and brings about emotion is a good book. I would recommend it. I would just say that when it gets slow just keep reading, it gets much better.

[Cooper Dayton · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you are not Catholic, this book is intolerable. It is very bigoted in its addressing of extremism, completely skimming over the Church’s issues, and treats Africa from a white savior point of view. It does not really accomplish anything and drags on with puffed up language around how everyone is happy and perfect. There are not many real struggles in this, and does not actually provoke hard thoughts to anyone who is not an ultra-traditional Catholic.

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the first half of this book to be very interesting but it lost my interest about 2/3rds of the way through. Things just got to be too unrealistic at one point--obviously the plot is completely hypothetical in a LOT of ways but as I was reading I kept thinking about how no normal teenager acts as the kids in the book do.

[Soma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Characters are black and white, and unrealistically earnest, all the time, adding to the tediousness of the plot. The plot is also fanciful and almost reads like the wishful thinking of the authors. I am not Catholic so I do not know if the idea of the plot has any special meaning to the believer, but to a secular reader like me it is too naive to make any favorable impression.

[Lauretta Farrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book. The premise was compelling - a married, laicized American elected pope on a lark. It turned out, though, to be a treatise on Flynn's Catholicism and what he thinks will save the church in modern times. I was troubled by both his racism in describing people from Africa, and the overly sexual way he portrayed the women. It was a struggle to finish.

[Maureen O'Connor · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has an implausible plot that quickly becomes a vehicle for the authors' ideas for changing the Roman Catholic Church. It became very "preach-y" with a laundry list of complains and not very likely quick fix solutions.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad story, but the glaring repeated misspelling of camerlengo(in italics) and other inaccuracies concerning the Catholic faith are inexcusable in a book with the papacy and the Vatican so central to the narrative.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this was going to be just fluff. It was pretty interesting in parts.

It’s 2000. Pope John Paul II dies and it’s time to pick a successor. The cardinals have voted for days without a result. Finally, the Irish cardinal withdraws his name but tells a story about his friend Bill who’s a fisherman. Guess who gets just enough votes on the next ballot?

Meanwhile, Bill is out fishing and has a vision of Our Lady of Fatima telling him that God has a job for him.

After much discussion in Rome, the Irish cardinal, Brian Comiskey, is sent to ask Bill about being pope after much discussion about whether he’s eligible. Everyone is positive he’ll say no and then they will elect a real pope. Cardinal Comiskey asks the Vatican ambassador Ed Kirby to accompany him to Boston because he might be needed. Here’s where I had my first problem. The ambassador has considered resigning because he’s had problems with the professional staff and probably won’t have the same close relationship with the next pope. There was nothing here about the election and the possibility that a new president would name a different ambassador.

So of course, Bill says yes to being pope. His 4 children are a bit shocked. The oldest, Ryan, has been working with his dad as a fisherman. Colleen is going to junior college and acting as the mother (because of course there’s no wife to impede the future pope since she died of cancer). Meghan and Roger are in school still.

Brian goes back to Rome. Ed brings Bill to Rome and he starts to suspect what’s going on. Bill stays with the Kirby family overnight. Ed has foresight to get a bunch of pictures with Bill.

Bill, dressed as a Monsignor is taken to the Sistine Chapel. And he wins over most of the cardinals. A pope with children takes some getting used to. The new pope has to be taught how to say mass again since he resigned the priesthood to get married. He needs to learn Italian. Also, there’s a secret letter from the previous pope to figure out about dangers he will face.

Once he’s pope, he gets requests to visit other countries. The Vatican bureaucracy have their collective panties in a twist because he’s too impulsive. Here’s where the book starts to get preachy and where I started skimming.

Aside from the preachy parts concerning politics and poverty and religious conflicts, the book was pretty interesting. The ending was a given if somewhat hokey.

[Rena Sherwood]

DNF

Never heard of this 2000 book until now? There's a good reason why.

I lasted as long as I could with this dreadful literary abortion, but threw in the towel when I read an African bishop say this:

We have had four bosses in the past five years in the Congo as we find ourselves in the third millennium. Each one has raped her natural resources until another one comes along who wants his turn on Congo's nipple.

You could run an entire college course just explaining how bad those two sentences are written. Sadly, the entire book is like this -- crammed full of unnecessary details, mixed metaphors, stereotypes, WAY too much talk and very little action. At one point, kidnappers break into the house of the new pope's family. I thought, "AT LAST! SOMETHING'S HAPPENING!" But no -- it all gets resolved in a page.

Jesus Christ on a cracker.

I'm also not sure if this book is pro-Catholic or anti-Catholic. I suppose I could read the rest of it, but it's just too damn painful. As the book wore on, I grew to really, really despise Pope Peter II.

Another problem with the book is that it's time locked, set in 2000 and 2001. When it was published, it was a "what if" of the future. Now, it's just a horribly bad alternative history book. Celebrities of the time that make appearances include Robert de Niro, Sharon Stone (both for one sentence) and the Clintons (for a lot longer than one sentence.) I wonder if the authors were upset that Pope John Paul II lived so long, and had a decrepit German as successor.

The book also wrongly assumed that the world cared about the Pope. I remember when JP2 died, because I was homeless in the woods outside of Bath, England. No one in the area gave a flying fuck about the dead Pope or the next Pope.

[Mikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This will appeal to some practising Roman Catholics who feel that the Church needs reform, although it's already somewhat dated due to its vintage (published in 2000). As a long-ago member who has now evolved spiritually beyond the narrow confines of orthodox Christianity, and who has thus left behind the accepted but archaic dogmas still propping up that church's belief systems, I'm not going to pontificate (pun intended) on the contents of this book. It was written as a novel. I found it fun in parts. Ridiculous in others. I found the characters interesting but all sense of credibility became suspended when the 'accidental pope' went on walkabouts. Now, THAT will never happen unless the Vatican undergoes some serious reformation and suspends ALL practices it has built up over the centuries.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. And, an interesting take on things. When you look past the hierarchy of the Catholic church and you imagine what would happen when people listen to what God's plan is for the church, you can imagine an ex-priest being the pope. There were a couple of down sides to the book. From the description on the back of the book I was expecting more of the story to be related to the pope's family being at the Vatican. That said, the whirlwind romances of the 2 eldest children during their Christmas visit to the Vatican seemed unrealistic and out of place.

[Victoria]

I read this book because my grandma wanted to talk to me about it. But it was hard for me to truly stay engaged. There were times that was quite interesting and other times it dragged on. I am not Catholic but there was definitely interesting parts about the lifestyle in it. The section right after Bill became Pope and then leading up to Africa felt very long to me. I understand it is critical to the rest of the story but overall was hard to stay engaged.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out strong and addresses issues that the church was facing except the one that has rocked it to it’s core: priests molesting children. The conversation construction was odd and the family actions were unrealistic. Their father dies and they barely mourn him. It had a lot of potential but focused on the politics surrounding the pope instead of a good story.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent look inside the Conclave of Papal Electorate and Church function at the Highest level ....Even though it's fictional, it's truly an Insightful look at the Daily life of a Pope and his Cardinal support team .

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story, interesting read even if not very plausible....

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really very good but slightly dated

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it! I was hooked right at the beginning! Dragged a bit in the middle... Interesting view on Vatican issues, conclave, life... Pope Peter II...

[Ann Adriani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago and it is still my all time favorite book.

[Nancy Carter]

Fun book and you learn a lot too! Great fictional tale with great bits of reality in it.

[Jeannette Randone · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved the book. all the wonderful characteristics of Bill would certainly make for a great Pope.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a random gift I received several years ago, and I ended up liking it well enough. It's about the election of a new Pope in the present day, and how the office is bestowed on a humble New England fisherman with five kids. Wait, you say, doesn't the Pope have to be a priest? The fisherman was ordained as a young man, then left the priesthood (honorably) because he met and fell in love with his future wife and mother of his children. Well, doesn't the Pope have to be celibate? The fisherman is a widower by the time the book begins. But doesn't the college of cardinals generally vote for other cardinals? They do, but after several inconclusive deadlocked votes, one of them gives a speech about an old friend of his from New England. Then each of the cardinals gets the idea to vote for that fisherman as a symbolic gesture to break the deadlock - but since they all have the same idea at the same time the fisherman ends up winning unanimously. Coincidence? Or the movement of the Holy Spirit? If you can swallow all of this setup so far, the rest of the book is pretty good, as Pope Peter II sets about modernizing the Catholic Church with his common-sense values.

I'm adding The Accidental Pope to my bookshelves at the same time I've finished A Prayer For Owen Meany, more as a counterpoint than anything. I noticed a fair bit of Catholic-Church-bashing in Owen Meany, and if you've read my other reviews you may be aware that this seems to be something which crops up again and again (see: The Thorn Birds, Rosemary's Baby, the Hyperion/Endymion cycle, etc.) It's gotten to the point where I feel like I should have a bookshelf labeled "Catholics do not come off well" but I think that might give people the wrong idea about me. I was raised Catholic but no longer identify as such, but I don't have a huge, hate-fueled problem with the Church. I just disagree with it in many ways. There are good, happy Catholics and very good Catholic priests, I've met a ton of them, so I can't write off the entire institution and all its members. Anyway, The Accidental Pope shows the Church a bit more respect and paints it in a bit more flattering light. Although the major premise of the book is how the Church really needs to be shaken up and change some of its ways ... hmmm ...

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book ended up with me, after being given to my mother by a neighbor, who knew that my mother was puzzling out her Catholic family, and that my mother was a reader. She was/is, but not a reader of this book. It was damned with faint praise by the original giver (something like it wasn't that great a book, though the premise was interesting). It took me a while to find a time to sit down with a "not so great" book but I finally did, the week after the death of Pope John Paul II. I was hoping to get some idea, in lay person's terms, about what goes on in the choosing of a Pope. And I did get some things answered. But much of what I already knew came from the Andrew Greeley book White Smoke which has to do with the election of a Pope, in fractious times, too.

As to the book itself-- Eh. Wasn't thrilled. The premise seemed forced to me and the characters never took off. A bit too much like they were hoping for a TV movie with Mel Gibson playing Bill Kelly, aka Pope Peter.
The writing was stiff- the plot stiffer. I am surprised because one of the authors wrote The French Connection, though maybe that was a crummy book made into a good movie- don't know because I never read it! The other author is an ex-mayor of Boston and ex Ambassador to the Vatican, so the inside scoop must have been the real thing...

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I happened upon this book while picking up others at the library this past week. I found the book interesting, with good character development, etc. Yes, a little far fetched in one sense (former priest who had been laicized, married, and had four children, but whose wife was now dead is selected as the new pope. It gives a little insight to the problems facing the Christian Church (not just the Roman Catholic Church), from new morality, epidemic disease in many African countries, political intrigue, and much more. The plot has some clever and fascinating twists. A very goo, enjoyable read.

Only issue I found is that the age of Bill Kelly’s wife when she died was 35 in one place and 39 in another.

[Meryddian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a bit unusual in that the man who becomes elected Pope is... American. How he goes from humble fisherman to the Vatican is well-worth the read; the book is full of surprises and cool ideas. It also takes a look at the Pope-dom and Christianity/Catholocism from a fresh, 21st-century viewpoint. Lively and thought-provoking, this has been one of my favorite books to read over the past few years.

[Roger · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a Catholic, I was interested in the politics of the Vatican and how things work there. It was quite revealing, but as a book, it isn't that good. Starting from the unlikely election of Pope Peter II to contrived events that lead to the book's unsatisfying ending, there isn't much there there. The characterization of the politics within the state department is probably accurate, but again, it bears little impact on the book's plot. Still, I enjoyed it.

[Reuben Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Perhaps it gives you some of the flavor of how the next pope is chosen. It does show how the current Vatican is run on the personality of the present pope regardless of the predecessors. The fun of this book is how one new man is trying to move an institution to be more flexible and responsive and speaks of his trials and tribulations. I finished the book with tears.