Let Us Dream

In this uplifting and practical book,written in collaboration with his biographer, Austen Ivereigh, thepreeminentspiritual leaderexplains why we mustand how we canmakethe world safer, fairer, and healthier for all people now. In the COVID crisis, the beloved shepherd of over one billion Catholics saw the cruelty and inequity of our society exposed more vividly than ever before. He also saw, in the resilience, generosity, and creativity ofso many people, the means to rescue our society, our economy, and our planet. In direct, powerful prose, Pope Francis urges us not to let the pain be in vain. He beginsLet Us Dreamby exploringwhat this crisis can teach us about how to handle upheaval of any kind in our own lives and the world at large. With unprecedented candor, he reveals how three crises in his own life changed him dramatically for the better.By its very nature, he shows, crisis presents us with a choice: we make a grievous error if we try to return tosomepre-crisis state. But if we have the courage to change, we can emerge from the crisis better than before. Francis thenoffers a brilliant,scathingcritique of thesystems and ideologies that conspired to produce the current crisis, froma global economy obsessed with profit and heedless of the people and environment it harms, topoliticians whofoment their people's fear and use it toincrease their own power at their people's expense.He reminds usthatChristians' first duty is toserve others, especiallythe poor and the marginalized, just as Jesus did. Finally, the Pope offers an inspiring and actionable blueprint for buildinga better world for all humanity by putting the poor and the planet at the heart of new thinking. For this plan, he draws not only onsacred sources, buton the latest findings fromrenowned scientists, economists,activists, and other thinkers. Yet rather than simply offer prescriptions, he shows how ordinary people acting together despite their differences can discover unforeseen possibilities. Along the way, heoffersdozens of wise and surprising observations on the value of unconventional thinking,onwhy we mustdramatically increasewomen's leadershipin the Church and throughout society,onwhat he learnedwhilescouringthe streets of Buenos Aires with garbage-pickers, and much more. Let Us Dream is an epiphany, a call to arms, and a pleasure to read.It is Pope Francis at his most personal, profound and passionate.With this book andwithopen hearts, we can change the world.