Luis Antonio Tagle - (People of God) by Cindy Wooden (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has been called "the Asian Pope Francis," because of his humility, his connectedness to the lives of everyday Catholics, and his insistence on the church's duty to care for the poor and the marginalized. In Luis Antonio Tagle: Leading by Listening, veteran Catholic journalist Cindy Wooden offers a poignant look at this archbishop of Manila who has impressed Catholics around the world.

At the world Synod of Bishops on Evangelization in 2012, he told his fellow bishops, "The church must discover the power of silence. Confronted with the sorrows, doubts and uncertainties of people she cannot pretend to give easy solutions. In Jesus, silence becomes the way of attentive listening, compassion and prayer. It is the way to truth." While not afraid to speak the truth to power, Cardinal Tagle also is not afraid to listen to the poor, the confused and the searching.Wooden shares much insight into this man of deep faith and compassion, a pastor driven both to bring Christ to the people and to listen to the people in whom Christ lives and through whom he speaks.

People of God is a series of inspiring biographies for the general reader. Each volume offers a compelling and honest narrative of the life of an important twentieth or twenty-first century Catholic. Some living and some now deceased, each of these women and men has known challenges and weaknesses familiar to most of us but responded to them in ways that call us to our own forms of heroism. Each offers a credible and concrete witness of faith, hope, and love to people of our own day.

Review Quotes

As head of the Rome Bureau of the world's premiere English Catholic News Service, Cindy Wooden has written a brilliant biography of one of the great lights of the Post-Conciliar Church. Cardinal Tagle has said: 'A person will always be deeper than any label. And no person, especially when talking about deep mysteries of love, marriage, relationships, can ever be labeled.' But when you finish reading Wooden's story of Chito, you cannot help but label him 'good.' Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle is a shepherd who not only has the smell of the sheep and the mind and heart of the Good Shepherd but the manner and courage of the Bishop of Rome. Francis and Chito are cut from the same cloth. Of all the WITNESS interviews I have ever done for our TV network, the moments with Cardinal Chito were among the most powerful and beautiful."
Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB, CEO, Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation, Canada; English Language Attaché, Holy See Press Office

Cindy Wooden's deeply researched and crisply written portrait reveals a compelling church leader in tune with his times, a son of Vatican II deeply enmeshed with his people, a scholar with the smell of sheep with a deep affinity for the young and poor. In his humility, austerity, accessibility and prophetic courage, 'Chito' Tagle is the Asian emblem of the Francis pontificate--and the one to watch in coming conclaves.
Austen Ivereigh, Author, The Great Reformer: Francis and the making of a radical pope

This book takes an insightful journey into the mind and heart of Cardinal Luis Tagle, one of Asia's youngest and most dynamic Catholic leaders and a figure who looms large on the church's horizon. It is a compact but revealing volume, with rich biographical detail and thought-provoking personal reflections. In Tagle's vision, the modern church must engage people through humility, simplicity and, as the book's subtitle states, 'learning by listening.'
John Thavis, Author of New York Times best-seller, The Vatican Diaries