Walking with Jesus: A Way Forward for the Church

Two thousand years ago, Jesus said, "Follow me." What if the 21st-century Church actually heeded that call? What would the world look like if the Church were truly on the move? Simply put, very different. But these ponderings beg one more critical question: What exactly should the Church be moving toward? In Walking with Jesus: A Way Forward for the Church, Pope Francis's own words lead us to the answer. Francis urges us to make Jesus central in our individual lives and in the collective life of the Church--to walk toward him, and ultimately to walk with him at all times and in all places. Each chapter of this Vatican-authorized book helps us put one foot in front of the other as we move ever closer to God and to our neighbors through the sacraments, prayer, evangelization, the gifts of the Spirit, and service to others. Francis reminds us that while the Church is indeed made up of individual people, we must walk together as a community of believers in a transformative relationship with Jesus if the Church is to be an effective, faithful witness to the Gospel. With a foreword by Archbishop of Chicago Blase J. Cupich, Pope Francis's first major appointment in the United States, Walking with Jesus offers the Church a much-needed way forward, past its inner and outer walls, as it fearlessly follows Christ toward the future.

Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a young man, he worked briefly as a chemical technician and nightclub bouncer before entering the Jesuits. He was ordained a priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979, was Argentina’s Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus. He became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, and was appointed a Cardinal in 2001.

Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, Bergoglio was named his successor on 13 March. He chose the name Francis in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. He is the first Jesuit Pope, the first Pope from the Americas, the first Pope from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first non-European Pope in over 1200 years.

Pope Francis has been noted for his humility, his concern for the poor, and his commitment to dialogue as a way to build bridges between people of all backgrounds, beliefs, and faiths.