What does a pope read? While an image of the Vicar of Christ curled up in an armchair, leafing through the pages of a well-worn text, perhaps with a pen in hand and a cup of tea by his side, might seem unusual, there is a venerable tradition of past and present popes enjoying and enjoining the reading of certain spiritual classics. Pope St John Paul II extolled the virtues of the Polish epic writer Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Quo Vadis; Pope Benedict XVI expressed great fondness for the Confessions of St Augustine of Hippo; Pope Francis exhibited ample admiration for the reflective writings of the German priest-philosopher Romano Guardini.