To offer inspiration during the coronavirus pandemic and reassurance of better days to come, Chicago-based publishing house Loyola Press is offering a free e-book version of Pope Francis’s book On Hope for two weeks starting Monday, April 13th. The free e-book will be available in English and Spanish. The free On Hope e-book is available at Amazon.com, BN.com, Apple.com, and anywhere e-books are sold.
“We all need hope more than ever, and Pope Francis is a steadfast beacon of hope, so offering the free e-book was an easy choice,” Joellyn Cicciarelli, President of Loyola Press said. “On Hope is a collection of some of the Pope’s most uplifting writings about keeping faith alive, especially during trying times like these. We want to share the Pope’s words with as many people as possible.”
Released in 2017, On Hope was the follow-up to Loyola Press’s New York Times bestseller Dear Pope Francis: Pope Francis Answers Questions from Children from Around the World.
“We want to do our part to offer words of encouragement to everyone—from doctors, nurses, and first responders, to the elderly, to the moms and dads who are home with their children and could use some reassurance that things will get better,” Cicciarelli said.
Founded in 1912, Loyola Press is also a leading publisher of religion textbooks and digital resources for Catholic schools and parishes in the United States. In mid-March, 2020, in response to the pandemic and to assist through the end of the school year, Loyola Press began providing parishes and Catholic schools across the United States with free digital subscriptions of their textbook series, including Finding God: Our Response to God’s Gifts, a core curricula for children in grades K to 8. In a little over two weeks, they have distributed over 70,000 subscriptions.
“We know that the pandemic is putting stress on everyone, including parishes, schools, and families,” Cicciarelli said. “Remote learning doesn’t need to end with reading and math. We wanted to assist in keeping faith and daily religious education as part of a child’s education and experience too. Faith formation is the one content area that can offer solace and closeness to God at the same time children are learning. If we have the ability to offer a digital textbook for free during this challenging time, then I felt like we had the responsibility to.”
The free On Hope e-book is available at Amazon.com, BN.com, Apple.com, and anywhere e-books are sold.