The first copy of the book in Italian, available from Monday, May 4, has been presented to the Pope. The volume contains his writings from when he served as Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine.
Vatican News
The Italian edition of the book Free Under Grace (Vatican Publishing House) has been given to Pope Leo XIV. The volume is a collection of texts dating back to when the Pope, as Robert Prevost, held the office of Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine (2001–2013).
The first copy of the Italian edition, which will be in bookstores from Monday, May 4, was presented to the Pope by Father Joseph Farrell, the current Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine, who promoted the publication of the volume. He was joined by Augustinian Father Rocco Ronzani, Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Archive and one of the editors of the book, and Lorenzo Fazzini, editorial director of the Vatican Publishing House. In addition to Father Ronzani, the book was also edited by Father Miguel Ángel Martín Juárez and Father Michael Di Gregorio, both Augustinians.
The book will be released in several languages in the coming months and is currently being translated in 30 countries around the world. As already announced by the Vatican Publishing House at the Frankfurt International Book Fair in October 2025, this book – bringing together for the first time speeches, homilies, letters, and messages by Robert Francis Prevost – offers a closer look at the spirituality of Pope Leo XIV.
Free under Grace will be presented on Wednesday, May 6, in Rome (5:00 PM, Pontifical Patristic Institute Augustinianum) by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State; Father Joseph Farrell, Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine; Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication; Maria Grazia Calandrone, writer; and Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of Vatican Media.
