Part Two

Coelho discusses his strict Jesuit education, his consequential reaction against Catholicism, and subsequent move back to Catholicism.

Growing up, rather than playing football on Sundays, Coelho had to attend mass. At 15, eight years after commencing his Jesuit education, Coelho rejected Catholicism on account of its focus on the suffering and pains of Jesus, as opposed to his miracles and life of healing. He attributes his loss of faith to his being forced to believe.

But after a quasi pilgrimage journey during the "hippy" age, where Coelho experimented with Buddhism, he returned to Catholicism. Realising that one's faith is in one's blood, he recognised his duty to obey Catholic principles as part of collective worship.

Coelho notes that his acclaimed and bestselling novel The Alchemist traces a journey of discovery, and asks questions of the self in order to come to a fuller understanding of one's faith.