If you want an official look at the first 11 months of the surprise-choice U.S.-born leader of the globe's three billion Catholics, you could start with Pope Leo XIV's own book, released in February, Peace Be With You! My Words to the Church and to the World (Harper One).

"The Vatican came to us specifically to do this book," Judith Curr, president and publisher of the HarperOne Group, told PW. "It's all his sermons and writings that he's done since May 18, when he was installed as Pope. There's so much in here that people have to take to heart and be heartened by it."

Of course, all those words by this pope can also be found online at Vatican.va. The website also includes the full version, complete with footnotes for scholars, of Dilexi Te (I Have Loved You), Pope Leo's first, and so far only, apostolic exhortation. Unlike encyclicals, which are key teaching statements by a pope, apostolic exhortations are one way popes urge Catholics to live out their faith.

Many Catholic publishers pounce on these various documents, sermons, speeches, and letters from a pope and publish them. But what differentiates the resulting books is the way publishers bring in commentaries and introductions by clergy and theologians who add their reflections and make the text more accessible.

Closer looks at ‘Dilexi Te’ and more

In the last year, a number of publishers have put out titles on Pope Leo's Dilexi Te. Twenty-Third Publications, an imprint of Bayard USA, offers several variations, such as 'I Have Loved You': Group Reading Guide to Pope Leo XIV's Dilexi Te, a booklet by Bill Huebsch, a pastoral theologian who provides passage summaries and observations on how the pope urges Catholics to embrace the poor and forgotten.

One Subject Press gave a social justice focus to the study guide for their book, Dilexi Te: A Church Formed by Love by theologian Stan Chu Ilo, senior research professor at the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University. Ilo points out that an apostolic exhortation is not only for clergy and scholars but "for the hearts of believers."

Ascension Press has Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Pérez writing a foreword to Dilexi Te: On Love For the Poor. Pérez calls the exhortation a "treasure" of Catholic social teaching, writing that because of the focus on love for the poor, the pope "makes us rethink what it means to be Christian, and what Christian love demands."

Word Among Us Press's Peace Be with All of You: The Message and Mission of Pope Leo XIV, by Deacon Greg Kandra, includes the Dilexi Te text. But, says publisher Beth McNamara, the book is primarily a deep look "through many original sources, from Pope Leo's early childhood to his papacy, to paint a picture of the whole person—to help the reader understand his roots, his perspectives, and his priorities."

Often, publishers will also gather up tidbits from a pope's speeches and public encounters and produce instant collections. Peace Be With You All: 100 sayings by Pope Leo XIV, from New City Press, offers bite-size-wisdom from the pope as introduced by Matthias Kopp, a consultant to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. Ligouri, an imprint of the Redemptorist Ministry, zeros in with 10 Things Pope Leo Wants You to Know, selected by Gemma Morató Sendra, a Dominican Sister of Charity. And Adrian Dominican Sister Janet Schaeffler collected his thoughts on relationships for What Pope LeoXIV Says About Peace Dialogue and Love: 30 Days of Reflections and Prayers (Twenty-Third) that could serve as a devotional.

The biographical treatment

Several biographies of the pope also came out in 2025, often by journalists who were poised to leap into action as soon as Cardinal Robert Prevost stepped out on a balcony to face St. Peter's Square and the world as Pope Leo XIV on May 8. For Pope Leo XIV: Peace Be With You All! (Catholic Book Publishing), writer Benjamin Rosier compiled "quick-read chapters on his life, spirituality, first words and challenges, plus an entire chapter of saints’ prayers—most notably of St. Augustine and his predecessor Pope Francis," according to editor Emilie Cerer.

Yet more bios are still to come. Some are by people who worked and worshipped with Prevost as he rose through the church ranks.

In From Robert to Pope Leo: Our Friendship, His Mission (Liturgical Press, May), Armando Jesús Lovera Vásquez recounts coming to know the future pope when Prevost was an Augustinian priest serving in Peru. Per the publisher, the book "reveals a friendship in Christ," and the future Pope Leo XIV's "profound connection" with the social justice teachings of Leo XIII.

Elise Ann Allen, a journalist for the Catholic magazine Crux, wrote her forthcoming biography, Pope Leo XIV (Image/PRH Christian, Apr.), by drawing in part on her exclusive interview with him last summer. The pope comments on topics as far ranging as soccer, the war in Ukraine, and his observation that "any issue dealing with the LGBTQ questions is highly polarizing within the Church." He noted that he would continue as Pope Francis said—proclaiming that everyone is welcome in the church and worthy of respect. "I don't invite a person in because they are or are not of any specific identity," he told Allen. "I invite a person in because they are a son or daughter of God."

Two Vaticanista authors are already speculating on what happens next. Journalists Gerard O'Connell and Elisabetta Pique's just published book The Election of Pope Leo XIV: The Last Surprise of Pope Francis (Orbis) starts with the inner machinations of the conclave that chose Cardinal Robert Prevost. Then, it moves on to predict "what can we expect of him." As O'Connell said in a recent interview, "We are convinced that he is consolidating the legacy of Francis."