Imagine where the Church would be if Benedict XVI had not taken the momentous decision to retire on 28 February 2013. That’s a striking thought, given Marco Politi’s portrait of the Vatican inherited by Pope Francis and the stiff resistance he is ­meeting in his programme of reform.Written with verve and authority by a Vatican journalist with over 40 years’ experi­ence, Pope Francis Among the Wolves first appeared in Italian in 2014 and is now published in an excellent English translation by William McCuaig. It is structured thematically, beginning with a portrait of Bergoglio as Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and offering an account of Benedict XVI’s resignation, the ensuing conclave (Politi confirms Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor as a kingmak