Francesca

It is 2055, and there's a new pope. It's Jessica Simon, an American, a wife and a mother. She's taken the name Francesca. A lifelong advocate for the poor, she believes the Catholic Church must return to Jesus' teachings and bring God to life in the world. But powerful forces are aligned against her. They see Francesca as a threat. Some will stop at nothing to stop her. Will Pope Francesca survive? Will she succeed in reforming the Church? In an hour of darkness, can she rekindle the light? A woman from Missouri ends up on the balcony of St. Peter's in Rome in 2055, having just taken the name Pope Francesca. Like "the visitable past" Henry James speaks of, Tassone's future is visitable. The reader can go there, to that balcony, that life; and though impossible now, it seems a possible future when imagination and reason together see what the mind alone cannot see now. I enjoyed suspending disbelief and getting to know Pope Francesca. She has a lot to offer that speaks to the needs of our world today, a lot that makes a woman Pope not so far-fetched as it may seem now. What can be imagined is often not far from what can happen.- Murray Bodo OFM, author of Francis: The Journey and the Dream Francesca reminds the reader of an untapped potential of emerging faith and growth within the Roman Catholic Church. Women! To some readers that may be alarming. To them Francesca invites the question, "What is there to fear?" To others who believe Jesus still speaks to his followers today to come follow him, perhaps in renewed and vigorous ways, Francesca challenges, "How will you believe? How will you share the Good News in the 21st century?" To both groups of the faithful Francesca reminds, "Nothing is impossible with God."- Patti Normile, author of Following Francis of Assisi