Viking to publish Pope Francis' autobiography

Viking has bought British rights to the autobiography of Pope Francis, originally intended to be published after his death, which will be the first memoir released by a sitting pontiff. 

Hope was announced on Wednesday (16th October), at the Frankfurt Book Fair by Italian press Mondadori, which manages world rights. Hope, which has taken the last six years to write, will be launched globally in January to coincide with the Vatican’s 2025 Jubilee, a "special time of forgiveness and spiritual renewal" in quarter-century intervals.

Viking publishing director Daniel Crewe and senior commissioning editor Shyam Kumar acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Denise Cronin, at Random House US. The two Penguin Random House companies will publish simultaneously; in English, the audiobook edition will be released at the same time as the print.

The book has been written with Carlo Musso, former non-fiction editorial director of Piemme and Sperling & Kupfer, and founder of the independent publisher Libreria Pienogiorno. Though Pope Francis had originally wished the title to be released after he passed away, Viking said that "the needs of our times have moved him to make this precious legacy available now". 

Viking added: "With a wealth of revelations and unpublished stories, powerful and human, poignant and dramatic, and also capable of real humour, Pope Francis’ memoir starts off in the early years of the 20th century with the story of his Italian roots and his ancestors’ adventure of emigration to Latin America, moving on to his childhood, adolescence, choice of vocation, adult life, covering the whole of his papacy up to the present day."

The book will also contain private and personal previously unpublished photographs and other material.

Pope Francis said: "The book of my life is the story of a journey of hope, a journey that I cannot separate from the journey of my family, of my people, of all God’s people. In every page, in every passage, it is also the book of those who have travelled with me, of those who came before, of those who will follow.

"An autobiography is not our own private story, but rather the baggage we carry with us. And memory is not just what we recall, but what surrounds us. It doesn’t speak only about what has been, but about what will be."

Crewe and Kumar added: "We were amazed by the vividness and intimacy of his writing which reflects on controversial questions from global conflicts to the future of the Church, as well as discussing his passions from football to tango. This will be an extraordinary global publication and a wonderful book for believers and non-believers alike."