Six Popes - A Son of the Church Remembers

“Monsignor Franco is known as an engaging storyteller of his impactful time in the Church. Read this book and you will see why.” — Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archdiocese of New York
Six Popes: A Son of the Church Remembers is Monsignor Hilary C. Franco’s engaging memoir and a story only a son can tell, a son not only of the Catholic Church, but also of Italian immigrants.
From Belmont, his Bronx neighborhood, Franco rose to work with the highest and most influential figures of the Roman Catholic Church.
As a young man he attended Rome’s premier seminary, soon after becoming the special assistant to Archbishop Fulton Sheen. As a priest he would travel the world, and he recounts a harrowing experience in the Deep South in the early 1960s, his work at the Vatican Councils that redefined the Church, and his time posted at the Church’s diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C., and the United Nations. This most formidable churchman reveals his tales of intellectual, pastoral, and diplomatic service to the Catholic Church, enlivened by recollections of the fascinating people he came to know from U.S. presidents and foreign heads of state, to religious leaders like Padre Pio and Saint Mother Teresa.
The title of his current role, Advisor at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, gives little hint of the drama of the times he recollects.
Stories of this book’s six pontiffs that Franco served under — John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis — offer landmarks along Franco’s trek through the corridors of spiritual power in New York, Washington, D.C., and Rome.
Six Popes: A Son of the Church Remembers is written from a unique eyewitness vantage on many of the events and movements that shaped our world and the Catholic Church. There is really no other book like it.

List of contents

Introduction to SIX POPES: A Son of the Church Remembers by MSGR. HILARY C. FRANCO

1. Bronx Kid


2. Roman Formation


3. Angelo Roncalli: Fellow Alumnus, Pope, and Saint


4. Cheating Death, and My Southern Adventure


5. Meeting Fulton J. Sheen and Assisting Him at the Council


6. Updating the Church: The Council’s Mission


7. Movers and Shakers


8. The Sixties: Upheaval in the World and the Church


9. Working in the Vatican


10. John Paul II: Council Father, Cardinal, Pope, Saint


11. Back in New York: From Ossining to Turtle Bay


12. The Church


13. Acknowledgements

About the author

Monsignor Hilary Franco was ordained a priest in Rome at the young age of 22 and received a doctorate in Biblical Theology from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, among other degrees. He served in the Parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Dominic’s in the Bronx, and Assumption Church in Staten Island. He was also a member of the Board of Editors of World Mission magazine and also contributed Biblical articles to the New Catholic Encyclopedia. He then served in the Diplomatic Corps of the Vatican at the Apostolic Delegation in Washington D.C. and was named an official of the Prefecture of the Economic Affairs of the Holy See in the Vatican. 
After two years, he was named Official of the Congregation for the Clergy and was in charge of the English desk for 24 years, which he initiated. He served as Judge of the Interocean Ecclesiastical Tribunal and was named Monsignor in 1971 and Prelate of his Holiness in 1981. An active member of the Catholic Biblical Association of America, he has been the recipient of several international awards which he shared with the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Mother Teresa. The Monsignor is the author of Bishop Sheen Mentor and Friend and a frequent contributor to Newsmax Magazine & TV. He now lives & works in the New York City metro area.

Summary

Monsignor Hilary C. Franco, advisor to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, has led a remarkable life in the Catholic faith. This rich memoir chronicles his amazing journey as a self-described "poor country priest" who forged deep and meaningful friendships with many of the most important religious figures in the C

Foreword

Introduction to SIX POPES: A Son of the Church Remembers by MSGR. HILARY C. FRANCO                 

When, over 65 years ago, God called me to be a priest and I said “Yes!,” I set off on a journey that would involve both leading people to Heaven and saving them from Hell.  Along the way I accumulated a treasure trove of memories.

I was born during the reign of Pope Pius XI (r. 1922-1939); his successor, Pius XII (r. 1939-1958), was the first Pope of whom I was cognizant. There were, however, six men who became popes whom, as seminarian and priest, I came to know personally. They are points of departure for the story of this son of the Church.

It’s the story of a kid who, by the grace of God, rose from the streets of Belmont in the Bronx— an Italian-American neighborhood that helped create Doo-Wop music—to serve Christ’s Church and spread His message of divine love. I saw the human race’s great possibilities alongside it’s tragically missed opportunities—the mansions of the super-rich not far from the hovels of the abysmally poor. I saw the latter’s champions in the saints whom it was my privilege to know.

For many years, friends and family have encouraged to “write a book.” Neither they (nor I, for that matter) saw myself as a great Church father; Though I served in the clergy under six popes, I do not claim to be an intimate of them all.

But I do claim to be a witness. I have been a witness to the good and great of the Roman Catholic faith, with this book sharing some of best recollections from my times with Archbishop Fulton Sheen and working at the Vatican for St. John Paul II, among other Fishermen.

My life’s outline, trajectory, and contents are gifts from God Who, in His infinite mercy and through His Blessed Mother’s intercession, bestowed this grace upon me. I did nothing to merit it. An extra grace has been my continued ability—aided by the diaries I’ve kept faithfully since my ordination֫—to recall dates and events accurately at my not-so-young age and set them before you.

This is inexplicable to me apart from the Almighty’s quiet but persistent work through me. As it turns out, this book may help fulfil my mission to the Church and Our Lord to serve as a witness. I am reminded of Paul’s instruction to the Phillipians, “. . . I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.”

I hope the fruit of this effort convinces you that a life of service to God in Jesus Christ, fortified by His Blessed Mother’s intercession, can make a difference in this sin-ravaged world.

Even if it begins in the quartiere of Belmont.

Ad Jesum per Miriam.

Additional text

Praise for SIX POPES: A SON OF THE CHURCH REMEMBERS by Monsignor Hilary C. Franco

“Monsignor Franco is known as an engaging storyteller of his impactful time in the Church. Read this book and you will see why.” — Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archdiocese of New York

“With a life spanning 6 pontificates, Monsignor Hilary Franco's new book offers insights into current crises within the Church and society, highlighting his work with Venerable Fulton Sheen, and even helping Mother Angelica during EWTN's first days… Now in his eighties, the Bronx-born priest has just completed Six Popes: A Son of the Church Remembers, a fascinating and colorful memoir of a life that has included attending the Second Vatican Council as an expert adviser, working as an official at the Congregation for Clergy for 24 years and, most recently, serving as an adviser at the Holy See’s Mission to the United Nations in New York.” — Edward Pentin, Rome correspondent for National Catholic Register and author of The Next Pope

Product details

• Authors: Hilary C. Franco, Monsignor Hilary C. Franco
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 25.05.2021
• EAN: 9781630061333
• ISBN: 978-1-63006-133-3
• No. of pages: 256
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Biographies, autobiographies; RELIGION / Christianity / Catholic, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs, RELIGION / History, RELIGION / Institutions & Organizations, RELIGION / Clergy, RELIGION / Leadership, RELIGION / Christian Church / History, RELIGION / Faith