A Biography of Pope Francis, Long in the Making, Comes to Bookstores

“I love punctuality, it is a virtue I have learned to appreciate,” Pope Francis writes in the fifth chapter of his autobiography, which will be published in 18 languages ​​on Tuesday. come quickly.”

Unfortunately, as a newborn, Frances writes, when she arrived a week late and had to see a doctor, she sat on her mother’s belly and began to “press and ‘jump”’ to encourage her labor.

“And so I was born,” Francis writes.

Pope Francis’ Hope: A Biography – a 320-page compendium of the Pope’s reminiscences and reflections on the major social and political issues of our time, including climate change, poverty, immigration, arms control and war English-language publisher, Random House, “historic edition” and as “the first memoirs published by Pope.”

This is technically not true. That honor belongs to the 15th-century chronicles of Pope Pius II, the 13-book “Commentaries” on his life, considered a key text in Renaissance humanism.

Francis is also not the first pope to share his life story. As a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger wrote an autobiography published in 1997, eight years before he became Pope Benedict XVI, and both he and his predecessor, John Paul II, collaborated with journalists to write books of personal reflections rather than papal documents.

But for readers, including Roman Catholics, “Hope” vividly brings to life the colorful world in which young Jorge Mario Bergoglio grew up – a world home to migrants from different countries and colorful figures, including prostitutes, his “bag lady.” ” aunt and other memorable family members.

Those who follow Francis closely will recognize many of his views in his biography from various encyclicals, weekly speeches at the Vatican, and speeches during his travels. “Hope” draws a line from the events and encounters that took place in his childhood, which have shaped Francis’s thinking to this day.

Francis’ unwavering support for migrants, he writes, stems from his own background as the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina. His aversion to war — “everyone who makes war is bad.” God is peace,” he writes in Hope — rooted in his grandfather’s World War I war experiences. “Nono described the horror, the pain, the fear, the absurdly alienating senselessness of war,” he writes. A left-leaning biomedical pharmaceutical researcher he met before entering seminary “taught me to think, meaning to think about politics.”

There are many personal memories described in the book: As a young teacher teaching creative writing, Frances writes that her students nicknamed her “Carucha” or “Babyface.” He remembers that he once helped Jorge Luis Borges, who was nearly blind, shave. “He was an agnostic who recited the Lord’s Prayer every night because he had promised his mother that he would, and he would die with the last rites.”

Francis is no stranger to journalistic cooperation. A book about his life, written from interviews with Argentinian journalist Sergio Rubin, was published while he was still the Cardinal of Buenos Aires.

Since becoming pope, Francis has written Let’s Dream, a first-person account that explores how crisis can be a positive catalyst for change during the coronavirus pandemic with his biographer, Austen Ivereigh. The book was on the New York Times bestseller list. Last year “Life,” the anecdote-filled book with Fabio Marchese Ragona, was published worldwide and also made The Times list.

Umid has been six years in the making and has been one of the best kept secrets in the publishing world. Francis originally intended the biography to be published posthumously, but last summer he changed his mind to coincide with the 2025 Jubilee, the Catholic Church’s Holy Year, which occurs every quarter century.

Italian publisher Mondadori excited Francis biographers by announcing the book’s imminent release at last year’s Frankfurt Book Fair.

Mr. Iverneigh said in an interview that his biography was an opportunity “to delve into episodes of Francis’ life that his biographers, including myself,” speculated on, disputed, and “sometimes struggled to interpret.”

But while replete with anecdotes about Francis’ childhood in the barrios of Buenos Aires, episodes that Mr. Iverni described as “stones,” the book offers little insight into Francis’ later life beyond “well-trodden material.”

For example, Francis talks little about his years in the Vatican. His comment that “the reform of the Roman Curia was the most demanding and for a long time there was the greatest resistance to change” gives no details of the struggles involved.

“The Pope is the Pope and it’s wonderful to have his ideas repackaged for a mass audience,” he said, adding that the pope saw the books as “evangelistic tools.” But he added that he was “obviously disappointed” to find that much of the original material dates back to his childhood.

Perhaps the most telling excerpt from the book is Francis’ memoir of his 2021 visit to Iraq, published as an excerpt in the American Jesuit magazine in December. Francis wrote that he survived two assassination attempts were thwarted. Later the former governor of Nineveh He denied that such incidents happened. The Times also published an excerpt from the autobiography in December, which is available there believe in humor.

Gian Maria Vian, former editor-in-chief of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, said he appreciated the “many personal details” the book added to Francis’ biography, but said much was written through “rose-colored glasses.”

Francis co-wrote the book with Mr. Musso, the former director of Mondadori Publishing, who had recently set up an independent publishing house. The idea was formed in 2019 and the work started a year later.

“I am honored by his trust,” Mr. Musso said. “I think he wanted to talk to everyone and everyone, even in very difficult times, using his memories, his stories, not his autobiography to talk about himself.”