Pope, plugging for books, reveals his love for tragedies

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis´s bookish side emerged on Sunday, after the Vatican published a letter in which the pontiff encouraged young priests to read --- while revealing that he himself likes the great tragedies.

“How can we speak to the hearts of men and women if we ignore, set aside or fail to appreciate the ´stories´ by which they sought to express and lay bare the drama of their lived experience in novels and poems,” asked the pontiff in his July 17 letter to priests-to-be, published by the Vatican on Sunday in eight languages.

In the lengthy text -- peppered with references to literary greats like C.S. Lewis, Marcel Proust, T. S. Eliot and fellow Argentinian Jorge Luis Borges -- Francis argued that reading was “part of one´s path to personal maturity” and therefore crucial not just for those joining the priesthood but all Christians in general. Noting that Paul the Apostle was a reader, Francis plugged for time spent reading, noting that a good book can “(keep) us from other choices that are less wholesome” and open up minds “trapped by a few obsessive thoughts”.

“In moments of weariness, anger, disappointment or failure, when prayer itself does not help us find inner serenity, a good book can help us weather the storm until we find peace of mind,” wrote the 87-year-old Argentine Jesuit.

The pope -- whose tastes also run to jazz and soccer -- has sometimes dropped clues as to his preferred reading lists.

He has mentioned Dostoevsky as a favourite author and confessed to having read Italy´s seminal 1827 novel “The Betrothed”, three times, calling author Alessandro Manzoni the champion of “victims and those who come in last”.