Free Under Grace: At the School of Saint Augustine Facing the Challenges of History

In bookshops from tomorrow, a new book with the early writings of Robert Francis Prevost

A year after the election of the Pope, a valuable book for getting to know more closely the personality, spirituality and cultural references of Leo XIV.

On Wednesday, book presentation in Rome

Vatican City, 3 May 2026 – From tomorrow, the book Free Under Grace: At the school of Saint Augustine Facing the Challenges of History (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, pp. 560 € 26) will be available in bookshops and online stores. This text gathers together for the first time the writings and speeches of Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, from the time when he was the global leader of the Augustinians. The book is being published to mark the first anniversary of the American pontiff’s election, on the initiative of the Order of Saint Augustine.

At the School of Saint Augustine Facing the Challenges of History (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, pp. 560, € 26). This text brings together for the first time the writings and speeches of Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, when he was the global leader of the Augustinians. The book is being published on the occasion of the first anniversary of the election of the American Pontiff, on the initiative of the Order of Saint Augustine.

The volume offers numerous and rich reflections: the primacy of the interior life in the ongoing search for God, beginning with study and prayer; the conviction that communion among believers is an essential element for a meaningful Christian presence in the world; selfless service to the Church wherever one is called to make a contribution; the defence of the poor, the struggle for justice and the commitment to peace as litmus tests of one’s adherence to Christ. In these texts, the future Pope unfolds his vision of Christianity and the role of believers in a secularised society. The guiding star of his argument, rich in literary, philosophical and theological references, is the teaching of Saint Augustine, of whom he described himself as a ‘son’ upon his election as Pope. Prevost becomes a faithful interpreter of the great Doctor of the Church, an undisputed genius in harmonizing the human search for truth with Revelation, drawing from his writings the perspective through which to view the challenges of our time with creativity and confidence. Capable of a lucidly optimistic outlook on the future of the faith, far removed from any nostalgia for a past deemed better than the present, Prevost considers the value of the believer’s lived witness to be crucial to the Christian message; this is the sole requirement the Gospel demands so that the word of Christ may resound eloquently in the contemporary world.

Free Under Grace is currently being translated in 30 countries around the world.

Meetings with readers

The book Free Under Grace will be presented in the coming days in several Italian cities: on Wednesday 6 May in Rome at 17.00 at the Augustinianum Institute, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Fr. Joseph Farrell, Paolo Ruffini, Maria Grazia Calandrone and Andrea Tornielli; on Thursday 7 May in Naples at 17.00 (Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy) with Nataša Govekar, don Francesco Asti, Fr. Pasquale Incoronato, Msgr. Francesco Beneduce and Fr. Pasquale Cormio; on Friday 8 May in Florence at 17.30 at the International Centre for Leo XIV Studies with Paolo Ruffini and Fr. Giuseppe Pagano; on Sunday 10 May at 19.00 in the Acta Diurna review in San Bonifacio (VR) with Lorenzo Fazzini and Stefano Filippi; on Saturday 16 May at the Turin International Book Fair at 12.45 with Fr. Joseph Farrell, Annalisa Cuzzocrea and Paolo Ruffini; and on Friday 12 June in Lodi (“Un fiume di libri” – “A River of Books” – Festival), with Msgr. Cesare Pagazzi and Lorenzo Fazzini at 21.00.

Press contacts:

Lorenzo Fazzini
Cell. +39 349 6813006 lorenzo.fazzini@spc.va