Vatican City:

In a new book, Pope Francis, 87, looks back on his life and its intersection with major world events and his hopes for the future of the Roman Catholic Church; hope.

The memoir “Life – My Historical Story”, co-written with Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona and published by Harper Collins, will be released on March 19, the 11th anniversary of Francis’ inauguration as the first Latin American pope.

While the 230-page book contains nothing new, it is a breezy, conversational read that begins with his childhood in Buenos Aires and continues to the present day.

Events in between include World War II, the Holocaust, the Cold War, the 1969 moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.

Francis has had problems with his health recently, suffering from consecutive episodes of bronchitis, being hospitalized multiple times, and having difficulty walking. Francis reiterated that he had no intention of resigning, as his predecessor had done, barring “serious physical impairment.”

He joked that while some of his conservative critics “might wish” he would announce his resignation after his hospitalization, there was little or no risk because “there are a lot of projects that need to be realized, God willing.”

He once again defended his recent decision to allow people in same-sex relationships to receive blessings, reiterating that it was not a blessing for the union itself, but for individuals “who seek the Lord but are rejected or persecuted.”

He said the church “has no power to change the sacraments created by the Lord” and that “this (blessing) does not mean that the church supports same-sex marriage.”

Hope for a hugging church

“I imagine a Mother Church that embraces and welcomes everyone, even those who think they are wrong and have been judged by us in the past,” he said of the controversy surrounding the recent ruling.

Francis wrote that even if some bishops refuse to bless people in same-sex relationships, as in Africa, “this does not mean that this is an antechamber of schism, since the teaching of the Church is not questioned”.

Throughout the book, he relies on historical events as context to make appeals relevant to current (and sometimes similar) situations.

Referring to World War II, he wrote that to this day, “Jews continue to be stereotyped and persecuted. This is not Christian or even human. When will we understand that they are our brothers and sisters?”

Recalling the first time he heard about the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan at the end of the war, he wrote: “The use of atomic energy for war purposes is a crime against humanity, a crime against human dignity, a crime against any nation.” Creating future possibilities in our shared home. “

Reflecting on the September 11 Islamist attacks on the United States, Francis said, “It is blasphemous to use the name of God to justify massacres, murders, terrorist attacks, persecution of individuals and entire peoples – as some people still do.” The name of the Lord can be invoked to do evil. “

There were recent reports in conservative American Catholic media that the Pope would change the rules of conclave to allow nuns and laity to participate in conclave to choose the future pope. The Pope dismissed this as a “fantasy and obviously a fabrication.”

On the lighter side, Francis spoke about compatriot Diego Maradona’s controversial “Hand of God” goal for Argentina against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals, which was allowed by the referee scored the goal because he did not clearly see Maradona use his hands. .

Years later, when Maradona visited the pope in the Vatican, “I asked him jokingly, ‘Well, which hand was to blame?’” Francis wrote.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)