Rhetoric of Pope Francis

Christopher J. Oldenburg is associate professor of rhetoric in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Illinois College.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: A Sick Church, Space, the Medicine of Mercy, and ConversionPart 1: Seeing the Holy See Differently Through Papal and Pastoral Conversions: Photographic ApplicationsChapter 1: Perspective by Papal Humility: Hierarchal Psychosis and Pope Francis’sSemiotic-Ethotic ConversionChapter 2: “Outward Signs”: The Visual-Spatial Rhetoric of Pastoral Conversion, Religious Mimesis, and its TransgressionsPart 2: Rhetorical Works of Mercy Through Political and Spatial Conversions: American ApplicationsChapter 3: Francis Before the Pharisees: Interventional/Intercessional Rhetoric, ‘Representative’ Anecdotes/Antidotes, and the Call for Political ConversionChapter 4: “Welcome the Stranger”: The Spatial Conversion of “Birthplace,” Religious Freedom, Immigration, and the Lec“turn” of Inter-contextual SynecdocheEpilogue: The “Francis Affect”ReferencesAbout the Author

This is a tour de force for understanding papal rhetoric in general, and the discourse of Pope Francis in particular. It offers a nuanced account of Francis’ rhetorical techniques when addressing the Church, media, Americans, etc. As such, Oldenburg should be commended for undertaking this monumental, unique, and timely treatise.