Pope Francis Announces New Autobiography

Pope Francis is sharing his life story — and spreading some hope!

Hope, an autobiography that took the 87-year-old pontiff six years to pen with co-writer Carlo Musso, will be published next January — just in time for the newly announced 2025 Jubilee of Hope.

The upcoming memoir, which follows his March book Life: My Story Through History, also makes history as the first memoir written by a sitting pontiff, according to publisher Penguin Random House.

The landmark autobiography was originally meant to be published after Pope Francis’ death, but inspired by the upcoming year of Jubilee — a rarity that only occurs every 25 years — the pontiff decided to release it now.

Along with tales of the pope’s life and career, the unprecedented book will also include private and previously unpublished material made personally available by the pope, the publishing company revealed.

“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,” Pope Francis said in a statement. “In every page, in every passage, it is also the book of those who have traveled 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,” he continued. “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. It seems like yesterday, and yet it’s tomorrow. All is born to blossom in an eternal springtime.”

“In the end, we will say only: I don’t recall anything in which You are not there,” he concluded.

Reflecting on his own experience working on the book, co-writer Musso added, “It has been a long, intense adventure that has taken up the past six years: work on writing it began in March 2019 and will be completed in the forthcoming weeks.”

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Hope will hit bookshelves less than a year after Pope Francis’ book, Life: My Story Through History, debuted on March 19.

Through anecdotes and meditations, Life reflected on some of his memories and observations of some of the most significant events to shape our world over the last eight decades, from the Holocaust and the fall of the Berlin Wall to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and even the COVID-19 pandemic. It also featured frank and forthcoming messages on the major crises confronting the globe, including war, climate change and racial discrimination.

Hope will be published on Jan. 14, 2025.