While waiting to know who will be the successor of Pope Francis before the white smoke, there are those who entrust their intuition on the future pontiff to readings.
Between the via della conciliazione and the Saint-Pierre square, the volumes signed by the most cited cardinals as papabili are more and more requested. Between the death of Bergoglio and the beginning of the conclave, the books of Matteo Zuppi, Luis Antonio Tagle, Jean-Marc Aveline, Pierbattista Pizzaballa and those published by Pietro Parolin fly away. The most attentive faithful try to detect the traces of thought, spirituality, even the political orientation of the potential successors of François.
Among privileged observers, the San Paolo bookshop, via della Conciliationa historical institution in the shadow of the dome. The manager, Francesco Trotta, has been working at the heart of the Vatican for 20 years: “It’s my third conclave,” he explains to Euronews, “already a few weeks before the Pope’s death, sales of books in Bergoglio began to increase: when François’s state of health has worsened, many people began to seek his writings. After his death, however, there was no more. of the last encyclical Loves usto the most famous Laudato yes, or Love happiness.
The readers’ gaze now turns to possible successors: “Each day, a new name seems to be the favorite and people therefore ask if he has written a book”, continues Mr. Trotta, “there is an increasing interest in books which explain the functioning of the Conclave, including the new rules introduced by François himself”.
But there is also something more, explains Francesco Trotta: “We feel a positive anxiety, the desire to understand, to imagine who will direct the Church in the near future”.
Conclave out of limits but not in books
According to Francesco Trotta, “illustrious” visits did not fail: “Some cardinals have come in bookstores, in particular because many of them come from abroad and find texts here difficult to find in their own country”.
-To the question of whether a secretary came on behalf of a cardinal to buy a take -out book at the conclave, “we cannot know, but it is possible”, replies Mr. Trotta.
Pope Francis himself, during his first Angelus, said that at the time, he had the opportunity to read a book by Cardinal Kasper. “Do not think that I advertise for the books of my cardinals! I do not do it! But that did me a lot of good,” said Bergoglio.
Pope Francis’s biography is the best -selling book in Italy
While the whole world has its eyes on the cardinals, the bookstores also celebrate the heritage of the outgoing pontiff.
It is not a coincidence if the biography of José Mario Bergoglio, “Spera” of Pope Francisleads to books of books in Italy. Published on January 14, 2025, this book retraces the intense life of the pontiff which “comes almost from the end of the world”.
After François’ death, on April 21, Spera rose to the top of sales: first place on Amazon Italy in the category “Christian institutions and organizations” and second in the “Roman Catholic Church” section.
In all the Vatican bookstores, the title is still exposed, today alongside the texts of the future popes, as if to underline the thread of continuity, or the rupture, between the past and the one to come.
