Back in 1979 the author Cullen Murphy spent some time with the people then working on the Leonine Commission, and published his long and informative article in the June edition of Harpers magazine, under the title of "All the Pope's Men: Putting Aquinas Together Again." In preparing the article he travelled to Europe and met all the truly great members of the Commission then working (Gauthier, the Fathers Dondaine, Fr Bataillon, Gils, et al.).

In 1995 Murphy gathered together many of his essays from over the years, and published them in a volume, Just curious: Essays (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995), with "All the Pope's Men" republished, but with a short addendum wherein he provided an update from Fr William A. Wallace, OP, who had been his handler years before.

Somehow or other I got ahold of a PDF of the essay as reprinted in Just Curious (pp. 133–167) and think that no harm is done in providing it here. It is written for the general reader, but visitors to our site will surely nod their heads in recognition over the points made in Murphy's piece.

You can download the PDF here. It's a wonderful read, and sure to make you eager for the appearance of vol. 44/1, containing Thomas's sermons.