Open to God ― Open to the World

Pope Francis here presents his hopes and aspirations for the Church in the future. Over the course of 16 conversations with Father Antonio Spadaro from 2013 to 2017, Pope Francis engages in a valuable dialogue. His impact on the modern world is extraordinary. He has turned the Catholic Church upside-down, flung open the windows of the Vatican and purged the Augean stables of corruption, simony, nepotism and financial skulduggery. But above all he is engaged with the poor, the starving and the marginalized.

Unlike his predecessor, he does not sit down in a room in the Vatican and write learned books. He is in constant dialogue with the outside world and with the universal Catholic Church. He likes being asked questions and finds it easy to respond. In this new book are some of his most valuable engagements in dialogue form with people of all sorts and kinds. Several of the interviews in this volume were originally meant to remain as private conversations. Father Spadaro recorded these free, spontaneous conversations for his own use, but upon listening again, he was struck by “a vision of church and a vision of the world” and worked with Pope Francis to make “rich vision” available to a wider audience.

The Franciscan revolution is under way and in spite of his vehement critics the revolution will roll on and new horizons will be opened for the one and a half billion Catholics in the world today. Including a preface by Pope Francis himself, as well as thoughts on his recent trips to Colombia, Myanmar, Chile, and Peru, Open to God: Open to the World reveals a leader's vision for progress.

Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) was born in Buenos Aires in 1936, the son of a railwayman. He joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) at the age of 21 and was ordained a priest in 1969. He was elected Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001 with the title of cardinal priest of San Roberto Bellarmino. He was elected the 266th Pope in March 2013.

Antonio Spadaro was born in Sicily in 1966. After graduating from Messina University he joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He earned a doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where now he teaches at the Theological Faculty. In 2011 he was appointed Consultor of the Pontifical Council for Culture and of the Pontifical Council of Social Communication by Pope Benedict XVI. He currently lives in Rome where he is the director of the long-standing periodical La Civilta Cattolica.