The Shepherd and the Wolves

A narrative investigation that reads like a thriller about power and the internal struggles of the Catholic Church, told through the rise of Pope Leo XIV and a crisis that exposes its deepest contradictions.

In May 2025, the death of Pope Francis laid bare the fractures within an institution in crisis, divided between two factions vying for control. On one side were those advocating for greater openness to modernity; on the other, those who believed that traditionalist conservatism was the only way to contain chaos. Meanwhile, the Church was facing its greatest stigma: sexual abuse cases and the silence that had protected perpetrators for decades.

Against all expectations, the conclave was resolved in just two days. Taking the name Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost became the first American pope in history. Until then, his political trajectory had unfolded largely away from the spotlight, from his early years as a missionary in Peru to his appointment at the heart of Vatican power as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.

The Shepherd and the Wolves is the chronicle of this unlikely rise. Santiago Roncagliolo traces Prevost’s path, revealing a figure who played a decisive role in handling some of the darkest cases within the Roman Curia. At the same time, he constructs a deeply personal story in which hypocrisy and faith, corruption and justice, power and redemption collide within an institution that must still learn to acknowledge its mistakes and reconcile its extremes.