Benedict XVI, Francis, and Leo XIV recommend this book, which warns of a world without God

Powerful book recommended by yet another Pope.
June 27, 2025
2 mins read
Lord of The World
BookmarkPrint this story
Famiglia Messenger Logo
Story from the Catholic News Agency.
We are thankful for CNA’s thorough news coverage. If you enjoy this coverage, consider donating to CNA’s mission.

The last three popes — Benedict XVI, Francis, and Leo XIV — have on more than one occasion recommended reading “Lord of the World,” the dystopian science fiction novel written by Robert Hugh Benson in 1907.

This apocalyptic novel depicts the consequences of a society that turned its back on God and presents a social critique of the customs of the West, which has succumbed to capitalism and socialism.

Benson, an Anglican cleric who eventually converted to Catholicism and was ordained a priest in 1904, proposes a reality in which “the forces of secularist materialism, relativism, and state control triumph everywhere.”

Story continues after this module

Lord of the World cover

Book

Lord of the World


We prioritize recommending small Catholic businesses. Where possible, consider supporting our first pick or your local Catholic shop!

This work, praised by the last three popes, also describes the arrival of the Antichrist as a charismatic personality but who also promotes ideals destructive to society.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, cited this work during a lecture he gave at the Catholic University of Milan in February 1992, stating that the work “gives much food for thought.”

It was also one of Pope Francis’ favorite books. During his meeting with the academic and cultural world as part of his apostolic journey to Budapest, Hungary, in April 2023, Francis explained that this work “shows that mechanical complexity is not synonymous with true greatness and that in the most ostentatious exteriority is hidden the most subtle insidiousness.”

For the Argentine pope, the book was “in a certain sense prophetic.” Although it was written more than a century ago, “it describes a future dominated by technology and in which everything, in the name of progress, is standardized; everywhere a new ‘humanism’ is preached that suppresses differences, nullifying the life of peoples and abolishing religions,” he said. 

Lordoftheworld062725

Specifically, he emphasized that in the society described in the book, all differences are eradicated, as opposing ideologies merge in a homogenization resulting in “ideological colonization — as humanity, in a world run by machines, is gradually diminished and life in society becomes sad and rarefied.”

Francis noted that in the novel, “everyone seems listless and passive, it seems obvious that the sick should be gotten rid of and euthanasia practiced, as well as national languages ​​and cultures be abolished in order to achieve a universal peace.”

This idea of ​​peace, however, “is transformed into an oppression based on the imposition of consensus, to the point of making one of the protagonists state that the world seems at the mercy of a perverse vitality, which corrupts and confuses everything,” Francis said in his address in the Hungarian capital.

Also, while criticizing ideological colonization, Pope Francis during a press conference he gave to the media on his flight back to the Vatican after his Apostolic Journey to Manila, Philippines, in 2015 recommended reading the book.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, before being elected Pope Leo XIV, also recommended the book in an interview given to the Augustinians from Rome. “It speaks about what could happen in the world if we lose faith,” Prevost explained.

He emphasized that Benson’s work contains passages that give a lot of food for thought “in terms of the world we are living in,” presenting challenges about the importance of “continuing to live with faith but also to continue to live with a deep appreciation of who we are as human beings, brothers and sisters, but understanding the relationship of ourselves with God and the love of God in our lives.”

Furthermore, the cardinal, who became Leo XIV on May 8, noted that his two predecessors had also cited this book on more than one occasion.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

SIMON ODUBER

Catholic News Agency

Catholic News Agency provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, giving particular emphasis to the words of the Holy Father and happenings of the Holy See, to any person with access to the internet. CNA is a service of EWTN News.

Join in on the conversation with a FAMIGLIA subscription!

Comments are restricted to subscribers. Simply subscribe now or login to join the conversation and join the community!

Read some top stories from FAMIGLIA

Hours cover
Previous Story

The hour that will change your life

Archbishops wear the pallium they received from pope francis in st peters basilica june 29 2014
Next Story

Pope Leo XIV to bestow pallium on these 8 U.S. archbishops

Explore the current issue

April 2025
FAMIGLIA is best enjoyed in print.

View the current print issue