Book Log 2021 #32: The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

A priest in Mexico is on the run, as the country has outlawed Catholicism and priests can be executed if they're found practicing their sacred duties. While many states take a less rigorous approach to the law, the state of Tabasco enforces it rigorously, and forces preists to take wives and pensions as part of the plan to make them unable to minister to their flock.

This priest did take that deal for a while, and has fathered a daughter, but he still feels the need to work as a priest, even at risk to his own life. Complicating matters is that Tabasco is legally dry, making it impossible for him to get sacramental wine and hard to get the whiskey he craves. Looking to escape into a neighboring state, he is on the run from a police lieutenant who has a personal stake in prosecuting preists. The chase comes to a head when the priest appears to have crossed the border, but is tempted to cross back to hear the confession of a dying man. It feels like a trap, but can the priest set his duty aside for his own personal safety?

Greene wrote this book after visiting Mexico to research and write a non-fiction account of the country's anti-clerical movement, and the book he wrote (The Lawless Roads) was a template for this novel, with many of the characters and stories coming from what Greene saw and heard while in country. Some in the Catholic Church were against the novel for its depiction of a drunk priest who fathered a child, while others found the book to be a positive example of a man following his faith despite the personal and political obstacles in his way.

A number of people hold this to be Greene's best book, and that could be the case, though I think I liked The Quiet American more. You should read both (and Our Man in Havana while you're at it).