St. Martin's Acquires Book by Pope Francis

St. Martin’s Press acquired North American rights to A Future of Faith: The Path of Change in Politics and Society by Pope Francis.

St. Martin’s chairman Sally Richardson and v-p and editorial director Joel Fotinos did the deal with Maria Vlachou at Humensis as part of a simultaneous global publication with Pan Macmillan imprint Bluebird. St. Martin’s will release the book, which is being co-written by Dominique Wolton, in the U.S. on August 7.

A Future of Faith was first published in France last fall. It is based on 12 talks Pope Francis had with Wolton, a well-known French sociologist. The book covers a wide range of issues, St. Martin’s said, including the Pope’s experience with psychoanalysis at age 42, a disclosure that led to international headlines last year. Other topics include peace and war, politics and religions, globalization and cultural diversity, fundamentalism and secularism, Europe and migrants, ecology, and inequalities in the world.

“It is an honor for St. Martin’s Press to publish a book by His Holiness Pope Francis” Fotinos said in a statement. “This book offers compelling insights into Pope Francis’ provocative and bold ideas which are incredibly important, inspirational and timely for our world.”

When it first published, veteran Vatican reporter Austin Ivereigh reviewed the book for the Catholic online site Crux. Wolton, he wrote, asks the "the kinds of questions Catholics probably wouldn't, such as, 'Why don’t you issue an encyclical on the challenges of human and technical communication?' Or 'what do you say to those who bang on about the Church’s atrocities and crimes?'

While the book weaves in nuggets of Francis' personal history, it's primarily a tome on issues and tensions in a world of conflicting ideologies and identities. "Ideologies cannot do politics. They help you to think...but they are not capable of doing politics," Francis told Wolton.

And there are a few surprises: According to America, a Jesuit review magazine, the pope repeated his opposition to gay marriage but accepts same-sex civil unions.