I had some time the last few evenings to work thourhg Pope Francis' new "Exhortation" called "The Joy of the Gospel."  If you only read one thing written by a Pope, you should read this one.  here's why:
1. The Pope writes to all of us, in simple, approachable style.  He's not writing for theologians;
2. The Pope speaks to modern issues;
3.  The Pope is uniformly upbeat.  He is very critical of Christians who have "Lent without Easter" and he uniformly leads with the idea that God loves us and saves us. Evil and sin exist, of course, but the Pope is much more about mercy than about judgment;
4.  The Pope constantly uses the term "Christians" rather than "Catholics," a very nice touch;
5.  The Pope is clearly a strong Vatican II pope-- he quotes extensively from every pope since John XXIII, but I don't recall a single quote from a pre-Vatican II pope; and
6.  Most of all, the Pope gives voice to those things that you have always known and loved about the Church but probably couldn't put into words.
If you're looking for something as a source of reflection, or just want to get a better understanding of the profound changes happening in Rome and the man behind them, download a copy from the Vatican website, or buy a published version, and give this a read.  You'l lbe glad you did.