I don’t think I ever fully understood the deep, almost inexplicable love of the Christ for us, why he would accept his own early tortured death as a sacrifice, until I had been a father for a while.

There are three giants in the earliest years of Franciscanism: Saints Francis, Clare, and Anthony. Francis and Clare, of course, were founders. In the broadest sense, one could think of Francis as the heart of the movement, a heart profoundly engaged with the world, seen through the lens of poverty.

In 2015, when Father Rob Galea stepped onto the stage for Australia’s version of the popular competition show X Factor wearing his Roman collar and black Converse gym shoes, he certainly didn’t fit the mold of the typical contestant—or the typical priest. Still, he wowed the judges with his performance and earned himself a place on the show. Not bad for someone who says he was kicked out of his school choir in elementary school.

After a few years of the habit of daily Mass, I found myself going in the middle of the day rather than in the morning, now and then. Just before noon, I’d find myself on my knees with everyone else, saying the Angelus. It came back to me from childhood, across decades, across centuries.

Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP, reviews Pope: A Man of His Word, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, and The Devil and Father Amorth.