Pope Francis was born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936, son of Italian migrants, the first of five children born in the working-class barrio of Flores. He qualified as a chemical technician, graduated in philosophy in 1963, became a priest in 1969, joined the provincial of the Jesuits of Argentina in 1973, was named auxiliary bishop in 1992, archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, created cardinal in 2001, and since March 13, 2013, Bishop of Rome and the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. For 2025, the twelfth year of his papacy, Pope Francis has announced a new Jubilee with the motto “Pilgrims of Hope.” Hope was written in collaboration with Carlo Musso and is being published simultaneously in major languages in over eighty countries.
“Hope vividly recreates the colorful world where the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio grew up.”—The New York Times “Vivid and sensitive . . . Francis is keenly conscious of his roots in a history of migration and a society of very diverse cultural strands. . . . Powerful and moving . . . This book is at its best when the Pope speaks directly from his first-hand experience of contact with the vulnerable, and he has a gift for bringing these encounters vividly to life.”—The New Statesman “[An] in-depth look at the life of the pontiff . . . Readers will find this autobiography replete with intriguing and sometimes surprising and even disturbing stories from the pope’s life. . . . Francis’ work is honest, interesting, and of historic value.”—Kirkus Reviews “For fans of Conclave, there’s quite the inside story of the real thing in 2013 in the Pope’s new autobiography. . . . The Pope who emerges from this book is an attractive figure.”—The London Standard