Diego Fares - The Heart of Pope Francis: How a New Culture of Encounter Is Changing the Church and the World

About the Author

D IEGO F ARES , S.J., is a Jesuit priest from Argentina. He is professor of philosophy and theology, and director of El hogar de San Jose, a home for the elderly living in the streets or in extreme poverty. He has known and worked with Jorge Bergoglio for over forty years.

T HE P OPE F RANCIS R ESOURCE L IBRARY

In these unique volumes that aim to give deeper insight into the spirituality and theology of Pope Francis, you will find carefully selected texts from works by Archbishop Bergoglio (exclusively published in English by Crossroad), and texts by Pope Francis (authorized by the Vatican for these editions).

POPE FRANCIS

Jorge Mario Bergoglio

O PEN M IND, F AITHFUL H EART

Reflections on Following Jesus

Introduction by Gustavo Larrazbal CFM
Prologue by Jos Mara Arancedo, Archbishop of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz

ISBN 978-0-8245-2085-4

$24.95 pb / 320 pages

ISBN 978-0-8245-1997-1
$29.95 hc / 320 pages

E-book editions available

O PEN M IND , F AITHFUL H EART

Reflections on Following Jesus

This book is not just for reading. It is a path for prayer and a guide for life.

Pope Francis connects with people, especially the young, the forgotten, and the forlorn. The cameras show him in Rome, in Brazil, in Lampedusa reaching out to the crowds, holding infants, embracing the disabled.

What is the source of his energy and his spiritual vitality? This book is perhaps the best introduction to what makes the Pope the engaging pastor he is.

During his years as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio often spoke to those collaborating with him in pastoral ministry. His constant theme was how to follow Jesus unreservedly, even in the hectic turmoil of our modern world. The texts of these talks, handpicked by the author for this volume, reveal the spiritual depths of Pope Francis as perhaps no other work does. The strong scriptural orientation of the Pope is evident in the countless references to both Old and New Testaments. To help the reader, this edition has supplemented the original text with appropriate scriptural citations.

The language of these pages speaks to the heart as much as to the mind. These are meditations to be savored rather than just read quickly and filed away.

The secret of
Pope Francis is found
in this book.
Bishop Martinez Camino

O PEN M IND , F AITHFUL H EART

Reflections on Following Jesus

In a sea of books by, for, and about Pope Francis, this outstanding (and particularly attractive) volume by the Argentine Pontiff HIMSELF takes us inside his mind, heart, and soul and gives us a blueprint for living, an example of how to live the Christian vocation. I highly recommend it!

Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., Institute for Priestly

Formation, Creighton University

I highly recommend this volume as instructive and illuminating spiritual reading for all audiences.

Rev. Thomas Massaro, S.J.

I finished this book feeling that I knew Pope Francis better. The media may not find in this collection of essays the one-liners that are heard so often. But anyone who delves into this book will come away knowing that, indeed, the world has a pope with truly an open mind and a faithful heart.

Deacon Michael E. Bulson, St. Andrew Parish,

Riverton, Utah

Christians of any denomination will find this book by the reigning pontiff to be of great assistance in their personal spiritual journey. Intentionally composed to be useful in ordinary day-to-day situations, the monograph will be highly useful for individual prayer and meditation as well as serviceable to prayer and Bible study groups.

Fr. Rick Gribble, C.S.C.

To read this volume is to get a strong sense of Franciss own sense of mission and the way he is trying to offer his own path as a guide for others.

Christopher M. Bellitto, Ph.D., author of

101 Questions and Answers on Popes and the Papacy

Excerpts from Open Mind, Faithful Heart

We will never be able to explain to our complete satisfaction the mysterious designs of God, who has wanted to reveal himself in the course of history. Over a long stretch of time we humans have been learning, like little children from their father, how to recognize and respond to the face of God. None of the Lords past revelations was partial; they all mysteriously contained the totality of the mystery of God in Christ; we perceived it only slowly, in bits and pieces. It is the same with our personal histories: the Lord reveals himself historically in the unfathomable mystery of those who seek God and also in those who reject God and flee from him. That is to say, God reveals himself in the historical mystery of our movement through grace and sin.

To engage effectively in any struggle, one must be fully confident of victory. Those who begin a struggle without robust confidence have already lost half the battle. Christian victory always involves a cross, but a cross that is the banner of victory. We can learn about militant faith and nourish it in ourselves by moving among the poor. During these meditations, we will remember the faces of many people whom we have known in our past pastoral labors. Those faces of the humble folk with their simple piety are always faces of triumph, but they are also almost always accompanied by the cross. In contrast, the faces of the arrogant are always faces of defeat. They do not accept the cross; they want an easy resurrection. They separate what God has united. They want to be like God. The spirit of defeat entices us to commit ourselves to losing causes. It knows nothing of the powerful tenderness that can be seen in the seriousness with which a child blesses himself or in the profundity with which an elderly woman says her prayers. That is faith, and that is the best vaccine against the spirit of defeat.

Excerpts from Open Mind, Faithful Heart

Rather than being a distant deity, God is the Father who accompanies all growth; he is the daily bread that nourishes; he is the merciful one who is near at hand in the moments when the enemy would exploit his children. God is the Father who gives his children what they request if it is appropriate; but whether he grants it or not, he is always affectionate toward them. If we accept the reality that God expresses himself within our human limits, then we should also accept the limits of our own pastoral expression. Our honest limitations distance us from the ideas of those who think they have the key to the world, those who know nothing of waiting patiently and working hard, and those who are easily swayed by hysteria and illusion.

Another temptation is to prefer head-values to heart-values. That should not be the case. Only the heart unifies and integrates. Intellect without a sense of piety tends to divide. The heart unites ideas with reality, time with space, life with death and with eternity. The temptation is to dislodge intellect from the place where God our Lord put it. He gave it to us so that we could clarify faith. God did not create human intelligence so that we could set ourselves up as judges of all things. It is a light that has only been lent to us, a mere reflection. Our intellect is not the light of the world; it is simply a flash for illuminating our faith.