Austen Ivereigh
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Austen Ivereigh

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Austen Ivereigh is arguably the leading English-language interpreteter of the pontificate of Pope Francis. A British writer, journalist and commentator known for his bestselling biographies of Francis, 'The Great Reformer' (2014-15) and 'Wounded Shepherd' (2019), he co-authored with Pope Francis his bestselling New York Times reflections on the post-pandemic world 'Let Us Dream: the Path to a Better Future' (2020).

Austen is also a Fellow in Contemporary Church History at Campion Hall, University of Oxford.

His most recent book, 'First Belong to God' (Feb 2024), is a week-long retreat "with" Pope Francis based on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, which has a foreword by Pope Francis.

Austen writes regularly for The Tablet in the UK, as well as America and Commonweal in the United States, and is a sought-after commentator on the BBC, Sky News and other news channels. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Times, The Spectator. The Guardian, and many other newspapers.

In the early 2000s he was deputy editor at The Tablet before going on to work for the then Archbishop of Westminster (London), Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, as his public affairs director. Inspired by the cardinal's advocacy of immigration reform he campaigned and organized with Citizens UK. In 2011 he published a book on Catholic social teaching and community organizing called Faithful Citizens.

In 2010, he created a project called Catholic Voices to train young authoritative commentators to appear in the media during the visit to the UK of Benedict XVI. He went on to author, with Kathryn Jean Lopez and others, the book 'How to Defend the Faith without Raising Your Voice', which has been translated into many languages.

After the election in March 2013 of Francis, the first Argentine pope, Austen was able to draw on his Oxford University D.Phil.on the Church and politics in Argentina to embark on the first comprehensive biography of Jorge Mario Bergoglio. 'The Great Reformer' was the result of dozens of interviews and primary documents he obtained in Buenos Aires over many months. The book's success launched him on what has become the major focus of his life these days: interpreting the Francis pontificate.

When not in Rome or giving talks at home and abroad, Austen can be found with his wife Linda and many animals on his regenerative small farm near the Welsh border, from where he writes a regular column, 'Wild Faith', inspired by Francis's social-ecological teaching, Laudato Si'.

Austen speaks and writes fluently in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. He is on X as @austeni.
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