Vatican Publishing House to release “The Private Diary of Pope Francis”, a book by Cardinal Fernández
The Vatican Publishing House will release The Private Diary of Pope Francis on 24 November 2026, with Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández presenting and commenting on the late Pope’s notes. The diary covers notes Jorge Mario Bergoglio kept from 20 December 1992 to 18 August 2024, offering insight into his inner life. The book will be published simultaneously in five languages and distributed in 94 countries through the Vatican Publishing House and international publishers. The Vatican Publishing House plans to present the book to international publishers at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2026.
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The Vatican Publishing House plans to release The Private Diary of Pope Francis on 24 November 2026. Edited and commented on by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the book will present notes Pope Francis kept from 20 December 1992 to 18 August 2024, offering readers a view of his personal and spiritual reflections. 1 3
The book is scheduled for simultaneous release in five languages and distribution across 94 countries. The Vatican Publishing House will publish the Italian edition; Penguin Random House’s respective branches will publish the Spanish, English and Portuguese editions, while Éditions Albin Michel will publish the French edition. 1
The Vatican Publishing House plans to present the book to international publishers at the Frankfurt Book Fair, running from 7 to 11 October 2026. 1
Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, presents and comments on Bergoglio’s notes. The announcement describes the collection as a way to deepen understanding of Francis’s inner life; another report characterizes the writings as including reflections, prayers and personal notes. 1 3
Vatican communications officials described the project as part of the effort to bring papal writings to readers internationally. The book follows Francis’s earlier personal publication, Hope, and has been compared in one report with the posthumously published spiritual diary of St. John XXIII, Journal of a Soul. 1 3
The role of spiritual autobiography in Catholic discernment and papal teaching
Spiritual autobiography—prayerfully recounting and rereading the course of one’s life—can help Catholic discernment by making patterns, desires, and spiritual movements more visible. In Pope Francis’s teaching, it is not a way to declare that every feeling or life event is a message from God. It is a disciplined act of attention, undertaken in prayer, that helps a person notice how God may be at work and test what is leading toward or away from the good.
Francis describes rereading one’s life as a way to gather details that may have seemed insignificant at the time: an encounter, a service, or an idea that later bears peace, joy, or a desire to do good. Such recollection can reveal quiet patterns of grace and help a person recognize repeated mistakes rather than simply circling back into them. It also helps bring to light difficult periods, since discernment attends to both consolations and desolations—experiences of spiritual encouragement and of disturbance or discouragement.
This is more than compiling memories. It means asking what happened within the heart and what those experiences produced over time. Francis recommends questions such as: What brought me joy or sadness? What was I seeking? What fruit followed? He presents the daily examination of conscience in this broad sense: not only recalling sins, but learning to read the movements of the heart and seek their roots.
Francis uses St. Ignatius of Loyola’s experience to show why a person’s history matters. While recovering from an injury, Ignatius noticed that imagining worldly pursuits brought pleasure that faded into sadness, whereas thoughts of following the saints continued to leave him with joy. The difference became clear through attention to the effects of those thoughts, including their lasting fruit—not simply through their immediate attractiveness.
The lesson is not that every pleasant feeling signals God’s will, or that sadness always proves a choice is wrong. Francis stresses that a person’s prior spiritual condition and the direction of a thought matter. Discernment is not an oracle or mechanical procedure; it involves returning to one’s actual journey and asking what one is seeking and where a particular path leads.
Rereading one’s story can expose assumptions and recurring emotional patterns that limit freedom. Francis distinguishes feelings from convictions and passing impulses from deeper intentions; an attractive goal may be good in itself yet pursued with unrealistic expectations, such as seeking from it proof of one’s worth. Attending to one’s history can help uncover these motives.
But introspection by itself is not the whole of Catholic discernment. Francis calls prayer indispensable: the heart’s movements are to be considered in familiarity with the Lord, not treated as self-interpreting. Scripture, too, is part of this relationship, offering light and orientation. Discernment remains a grace that includes reason and prudence but exceeds them; it seeks the meaning of one’s life before God, not merely personal satisfaction or peace of mind.
For that reason, spiritual autobiography should be honest but not self-absorbed, attentive to emotion but not ruled by it, and open to correction. Francis says discernment can also draw on psychological, sociological, and moral insight, while transcending those forms of analysis. In significant decisions, recounting one’s story in conversation with a trusted spiritual guide can help test one’s interpretation; Francis likewise stresses dialogue with superiors and fellow students in the discernment of candidates for priestly formation.
In short, spiritual autobiography serves discernment by helping a person remember, recognize patterns, and test the fruits of possible directions in prayer. It does not replace the Gospel, sound judgment, or the Church’s guidance; it helps the person bring the real story of their life before God and listen more attentively.