Vatican City, Jan 28, 2025 / 11:00 am
“Hope is the mainstay that undergirds Pope Francis’ entire life and is the thread that holds together this long narrative, even in the pages in which he recounts true horrors,” commented Carlo Musso, the Italian editor of Pope Francis’ autobiographical work “Hope,” getting right to the point regarding the theological virtue so fundamental to the life of the pontiff.
The volume was to be published after the Holy Father’s death, but at the last moment he changed his mind, Musso told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, in an interview: “His idea was to publish a posthumous book, but then the 2025 Jubilee of Hope came along and became a propitious occasion to bring it to light,” he explained.
In the volume, which was released Jan. 14, the Holy Father makes clear the great difference between optimism — something more fleeting, which may be here today and gone tomorrow — and hope, which he understands as an active force.
The book is the fruit of a six-year process — until very recently secret — to put the Holy Father’s memoirs into writing. “In the autobiography, the reader will obviously be able to get a look into his personal life, his priestly life, and the entire pontificate. But it’s clear that hope has been the glue that holds them together, because even in difficulties, in tragedy, Pope Francis always sends a concrete and invincible message of hope,” the editor said.
“Hope” compiles conversations, messages, and texts that the Holy Father provided him. “I then wrote a first draft and then we went over it together for accuracy,” Musso related, making it clear that the pope didn’t steer clear of any topic: “He gave absolute freedom, without red lines.”
“This journey began in 2019 and comes to an end at the beginning of December 2024, when the pope created 21 new cardinals who once again demonstrated his vision of a universal Church,” he explained.
The Italian editor — who has come to know Pope Francis in all his human dimension — pointed out that he is “a man born in 1936 who only looks back in order to project his gaze even farther ahead.”
Over the course of 400 pages, the pontiff narrates in first person the twists and turns of his life that have marked his 88 years, from his childhood in Argentina in the midst of a family of Italian immigrants to becoming the successor of St. Peter.
It all begins with a terrifying episode: the sinking of the transatlantic ship Principessa Mafalda, known as the “Italian Titanic.” His grandparents, along with his father, Mario, had bought tickets to travel on the ship that set sail from Genoa on Oct. 11, 1927, bound for Buenos Aires.
However, they ultimately didn’t board the vessel because they were unable to sell their belongings in time. “That’s why I am here now; you can’t imagine how many times I have thanked divine providence for it,” the pontiff recounts in the book.
For Musso, this episode influenced the pope’s “sensitivity” on this subject, as did many others that have marked his magisterium, such as the cruelty of war or his inclination to open up paths to interreligious dialogue. “His personal experience of fraternity is clearly evident when he says that it was common for him to interact with Muslims and Jews,” Musso noted.
In the last chapter, Pope Francis imagines the future of the Church, which “will continue forward, because I am but a step.”
“I dream of a papacy that is increasingly more service and communally oriented,” he wrote.
The Holy Father predicts, among other things, that the Catholic Church “will become increasingly universal and its future, and strength will also come from Latin America, Asia, India, Africa, and this can already be seen in the wealth of vocations.”
He also proposes that the Church and Catholics grow “in creativity, in understanding the challenges of contemporary times, openness to dialogue, and not being closed off by fear.”
For all this, Musso assured that the memory of Pope Francis is, in reality, “an ongoing present moment, so it’s not just a narration of the past.”
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“Hope is his legacy for humanity,” he said.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
As a journalist, Victoria Cardiel has specialized in social and religious news. Since 2013, she has covered the Vatican for various media outlets, including Europa Press and Alfa and Omega, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Madrid.
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