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\u201cI like punctuality, it\u2019s a virtue I have learned to appreciate,\u201d Pope Francis writes in the fifth chapter of his autobiography, to be published on Tuesday in 18 languages, adding that he considers it \u201ca sign of good manners and respect, to arrive promptly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, as a newborn, Francis writes, he arrived a week late, necessitating a call to the doctor, who sat on his mother\u2019s stomach and began to \u201cto press and to \u2018jump about\u2019\u201d to induce his birth.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so it was that I came into the world,\u201d Francis writes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHope: The Autobiography,\u201d by Pope Francis \u2014 a 320-page compendium of the pope\u2019s memories and musings on the major social and political issues of our times, including climate change, poverty, immigration, arms control and war \u2014 is billed by its English-language publisher, Random House, as a \u201chistoric publication\u201d and \u201cthe first memoir to be published by a sitting Pope.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is not technically true. That honor belongs to Pope Pius II\u2019s 15th Century chronicles, \u201cThe Commentaries,\u201d a 13-book account of his life that is considered a seminal text in Renaissance humanism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Francis is also not the first pope to share his life story. As a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger wrote an autobiography which was published in 1997, eight years before he became Pope Benedict XVI, and both he and his predecessor, John Paul II, coauthored books with journalists that were personal reflections and not official papal documents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
But for readers, including the Roman Catholic faithful, \u201cHope\u201d vividly recreates the colorful world where the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio grew up \u2014 a world that was a menagerie of migrants from various countries and colorful figures, including prostitutes, his \u201cbag-lady\u201d aunt, and other memorable family members.<\/p>\n
People who watch Francis closely will recognize in the autobiography many of his views from his various encyclicals, his weekly addresses at the Vatican and speeches during his travels. \u201cHope,\u201d however, draws a line from the childhood events and encounters that forged Francis\u2019 thinking to the current day.<\/p>\n
Francis\u2019 unswerving support for migrants, he writes, derives from his own background as the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina. His abhorrence of war \u2014 \u201canyone who makes war is evil. God is peace,\u201d he writes in \u201cHope\u201d \u2014 finds root in the wartime experiences of his grandfather in World War I. \u201cNono described the horror, the pain, the fear, the absurd alienating pointlessness of the war,\u201d he writes. A left-leaning biomedical pharmaceutical researcher he met before entering a seminary \u201ctaught me to think \u2014\u00ad by which I mean, to think about politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
There are many personal memories described in the book: As a young teacher teaching creative writing, Francis writes, his students nicknamed him \u201cCarucha\u201d or \u201cBabyface.\u201d He recalls that he once helped a nearly blind Jorge Luis Borges to shave. \u201cHe was an agnostic who recited the Lord\u2019s Prayer every night because he had promised his mother he\u2019d do so, and who would die with the last rites.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Francis is no stranger to journalistic collaborations. A book on his life written from interviews he gave to the Argentine journalist Sergio Rubin was published when he was still Cardinal of Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n
Since he became pope there have been several more: Francis wrote \u201cLet Us Dream,\u201d a first-person account exploring how crisis can be a positive catalyst for change, during the coronavirus pandemic, with his biographer Austen Ivereigh. The book made the New York Times best-seller list. Last year, \u201cLife<\/a>,\u201d an anecdote-rich book written with Fabio Marchese Ragona, was published worldwide, and also made The Times\u2019s list.<\/p>\n \u201cHope\u201d was six years in the making and one of the publishing world\u2019s best kept secrets. Originally, Francis had intended the autobiography to be published posthumously, but last summer, he changed his mind so that the publication would coincide with the 2025 Jubilee, the Catholic Church Holy Year that takes place every quarter century.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mondadori, the Italian publisher, announced the book\u2019s imminent release at last year\u2019s Frankfurt Book Fair, stirring excitement, not least among Francis\u2019 biographers.<\/p>\n An autobiography was an opportunity, said Mr. Iverneigh in an interview, \u201cfor Francis to go into episodes of his life, about which his biographers, including me,\u201d had speculated, argued \u201cand struggled sometimes to interpret.\u201d<\/p>\n But while rich in anecdotes about Francis\u2019 childhood in the Buenos Aires barrio, episodes Mr. Iverneigh described as \u201cgems,\u201d the book does not offer much insight into Francis\u2019 later life other than that which is already \u201cwell-trodden material.\u201d<\/p>\n For example, Francis says little about his years at the Vatican. His comment that the \u201creform of the Roman Curia was the most demanding, and for a long while there was the greatest resistance to change\u201d does not offer any details about the struggles that were involved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe pope is the pope and it\u2019s great to have his reflections repackaged for a mass audience,\u201d said Mr. Iverneigh, who added that he believed the pope saw these books as \u201can evangelizing tool.\u201d But, he added, \u201cI was frankly disappointed\u201d to find that most of the original material was relegated to his childhood years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Perhaps the most newsworthy snippet in the book is Francis\u2019 recollections of his 2021 visit to Iraq, which were published as an excerpt in the Jesuit magazine America in December. Francis wrote that he had survived two foiled assassination attempts<\/a>. The former governor of Nineveh later denied that any such incidents had occurred<\/a>. The Times also published an excerpt from the autobiography in December, this one about there being faith in humor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gian Maria Vian, a former editor in chief of the Vatican newspaper L\u2019Osservatore Romano, said that he appreciated the \u201cmany personal details\u201d the book added to Francis\u2019 biography, but that much had been written through \u201crose tinted glasses.\u201d<\/p>\n Francis wrote the book with Mr. Musso, a former Mondadori publishing director who has recently founded an independent publishing house. The idea took shape in 2019 and work began a year later.<\/p>\n \u201cI was honored by his trust,\u201d Mr. Musso said. \u201cI don\u2019t think he wanted an autobiography to talk about himself, but using his memories, his stories, to speak of everyone and to everyone, even very difficult moments.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n