In a Mexican state where the government has suppressed the Church, a worn and flawed priest is the last one still in the region. Hunted by a determined police lieutenant who believes in a secular future, he moves from village to village, tormented by his own failings but still unable to abandon his duties. The novel sets two kinds of conviction against each other and asks what goodness looks like in a person who is far from perfect. It is among Greene's best known works.
Quotes
There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.
When you visualized a man or woman carefully, you could always begin to feel pity— that was a quality God's image carried with it.
Why, after all, should we expect God to punish the innocent with more life?