To the Margins

"Andrea Riccardi traces the contours of Pope Francis's mission to the margins from the earliest history of the church to the present day. He gently draws our attention away from the center of church and society to see with new eyes that those at the 'existential peripheries' -- the last, lost, littlest, and least among us -- are at the very heart of the mission of Jesus Christ, the mission of the Church. Riccardi echoes the paradoxical good news of the proclamation of Jesus Christ: The edges are the center!" --Michael Downey, author, The Depth of God's Reach: A Spirituality of Christ's Descent"Riccardi's appealing marriage of erudition and moral urgency highlights the layered meaning of margins and marginalization. The storied founder of San'Egidio, Riccardi has marshaled his learning for a new evangelical initiative grounded in the Bergoglio vision of the peripheries. Inspirational, lucid, and persuasive." --Michael W. Higgins, Distinguished Professor of Catholic Thought, Sacred Heart