Marina Berlusconi, chairman of the Mondadori Group, today, at the Casa Santa Marta, presented Pope Francis with the first copy of the Italian edition of the book-length interview with the Holy Father entitled Il nome di Dio è Misericordia (The Name of God is Mercy). A conversation with Andrea Tornielli – published by Piemme, together with some examples of the main editions of the book to be published tomorrow in some 86 countries around the world.

Present at the meeting, along with the journalist Andrea Tornielli, were Ernesto Mauri, chief executive officer of the Mondadori Group, Enrico Selva Coddè, managing director of Mondadori Libri, and other representatives from Mondadori and Piemme. Also present were Monsignor Giuseppe Costa (director of Libreria Editrice Vaticana), Zhang Agostino Jianquing (an inmate of Padua prison who in April 2015 received the sacraments of baptism, communion and confirmation) and Roberto Benigni, who will take part tomorrow in the presentation of the book at 11 am at the Istituto Patristico Augustinianum; which will also be attended by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, and Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office.

For the first time in a book-interview, Pope Francis addresses all men and women across the globe in a simple, intimate and direct dialogue. The Holy Father examines the theme of mercy, which is so central to his teaching and his personal experience as a man, a priest and pastor. Indeed, the book is a summary of both his teaching and his papacy and His Holiness wanted to inscribe the cover of the Italian, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese editions of book personally.

Andrea Tornielli, a Vatican specialist and journalist for La Stampa, is also responsible for the Vatican Insider web site and contributes to a number of international magazines. He is the author of many books, in particular the first biography of the Pope, entitled, Francis. Pope of a New World (2013), and This Economy Kills: Pope Francis on Capitalism and Social Justice, which have been translated into 16 and 9 languages, respectively.