“First Belong to God: On Retreat with Pope Francis” A Talk with Dr Austen Ivereigh

The Belfast Jesuit Centre is delighted to host this talk by renowned journalist and Pope Francis biographer, Dr Austen Ivereigh on Saturday 27th April at 3pm, and we invite you to join us.

During his research into the Latin American Church Dr Ivereigh discovered two texts of retreats given by Pope Francis when he was still Fr Bergoglio. They testified to Bergoglio’s skill as a retreat facilitator and the fact that he was much in demand as a spiritual director. Using these texts and the growing body of Pope Francis’s teachings, Dr Ivereigh has written a book entitled First Belong to God: On Retreat with Pope Francis, which links the teachings of Pope Francis with their spiritual roots in his experience of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola. This is an invitation both to those who lead the Spiritual Exercises, and those who may be called to experience them, to do so with the help of Pope Francis.

Austen Ivereigh is a Fellow in Contemporary Church History at Campion Hall, Oxford, and a biographer of Pope Francis. A well-known journalist and commentator, Ivereigh has written widely on Church affairs and on the Francis papacy for publications such as, The Tablet, Commonweal, The New York Times, Crux, America Magazine and Thinking Faith, to name just a few. He is a frequent guest on the BBC and other media.