Benedict XVI, Francisco and Leo XIV recommend this book that warns about a world without God

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

This apocalyptic novel recounts the consequences of a society that lives with its back to God and presents a social criticism of the customs of the West, which has succumbed to capitalism and socialism.

Benson, converted to Catholicism after his formation in the Anglican Church and ordered priest in 1904, proposes a reality in which “ forces of materialism Secularist, relativism and state control triumph everywhere. ”

This work, praised by the last three pontiffs of history, also describes the arrival of the Antichrist as someone charismatic, but which in turn promotes destructive ideals for society.

Cardinal Ratzinger, future Pope Benedict XIV, cited this work during a conference that he taught at the Catholic University of Milan, in February 1992, stating that the work “gives much to think.”

It was also one of Pope Francis’s head book. During his encounter with the university world and culture in his Apostolic trip to Budapest (Hungary), in April 2023, Francisco explained that in this work “it is observed that mechanical complexity is not synonymous with true greatness and that in the most lavish exteriority the most subtle insidia is hidden.”

For the Argentine Pope, it is “a prophetic book”: although it has been written more than a century ago, “a future dominated by technique is described and in which everything, in the name of progress, is uniformed; everywhere a new ‘humanism’ that suppresses the differences is preached, canceling the life of the peoples and abolishing religions,” he said on that occasion.

Specifically, he remarked that in the society described in the book all differences are eradicated, since opposite ideologies converge in a homologation that colonizes ideologically. “This is the drama of ideological colonization; man, in contact with the machines, is increasingly stocked, while common life becomes sad and thin.”

In the novel, Francisco said, “everyone seems insensitive and anesthetized, seems obvious to discard the sick and apply euthanasia, as well as abolish national languages ​​and cultures to achieve universal peace.”

This idea of ​​peace, however, “is transformed into a chase founded on the imposition of consensus, to the point of making one of the protagonists that the world seems at the mercy of a perverse vitality, that corrupts it and confuses everything,” Francisco said from the Hungarian capital.

Also, by criticizing ideological colonization, Pope Francis recommended reading the book during the press conference granted to the media on his return to the Vatican after his Apostolic Journey to Manila (Philippines), in 2015.

Also Cardinal Prevost, before being elected Pope Leo XIV, recommended this book in An interview granted from Rome to the Augustinians. “He talks about that he could happen in a world if we lose faith,” Prevost explained.

He remarked that Benson’s work contains passages that reflect “about the world in which we live”, presenting challenges about the importance of “continuing to live with faith and also with a deep appreciation of who we are as human beings, brothers and sisters, understanding the relationship of ourselves with God and the love of God in our lives.”

In addition, the cardinal who on May 8 turned Leo XIV said that his two predecessors had also cited this book on more than one occasion.