Daniel Griffin of Somerville talks with Father Michael Collins at Porter Square Books.

By Aileen McElroy

Father Michael Collins, assistant pastor of St. Mary’s in Dublin wrapped the US segment of his book tour at Porter Square Books where he spoke on His Holiness Pope Francis and signed copies of his new book titled Pope Francis: A Photographic Portrait of the People’s Pope.

Published in August, Pope Francis provides an intimate look at the Pope with more than 250 previously unpublished photographs and an inside account of the pontiff penned by Collins, a former adviser at the Vatican.

Collins lived in Rome for nine years and also served as a lecturer at the American University of Rome, John Cabot University and Duquesne University, Rome Campus.

He has written an assortment of titles relating to both the Vatican and papal life including John Paul II: The Path to Sainthood, Pope Benedict XVI: The First Five Years and The Vatican – Secrets and Treasures of the Holy City. He recently authored a short biography titled Francis: Bishop of Rome for the Liturgical Press and desired to write more on the Pope.

“Everyone wants to know more about Pope Francis,” he said, before the book signing. “I thought ‘what is the next book I can do’ and I thought a picture book of Pope Francis would be good.”

Collins collaborated with Rodolfo Felici, the Pope’s photographer, who hails from a long lineage of papal photographers. Rodolfo’s great-great grandfather Giuseppe Felici Rodolfo served as the Pope’s photographer during the 1800’s. Felici began photographing within the Vatican walls in 1999. With his father, he captured images of Pope John Paul II. He attained a postgraduate education in Architecture, Sacred Arts, and Liturgy and can be found today photographing Pope Francis with his father, brother, cousin and uncle.

“I was in contact with Fotografia Felici studios. They have been in business for 153 years and we put the book together choosing mostly their photographs,” Collins said. “I was taken by Felici. Their photographs are un posed and catch the moment and the mood. They capture the spontaneity of Pope Francis.” Collins opened the book to a two-page spread titled “Lampedusa-Showing Solidarity.” The photographs portray the Pope’s first visit outside Rome to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa located 75 miles off the African coast of Tunisia. The island of 6,000 inhabitants is a temporary refuge for African migrants who have made the journey across the Mediterranean to find a better life in Europe. Photos from the spread include the Pope aboard an Italian navy boat where he threw a wreath of flowers into the sea paying tribute to thousands of African migrants who have drowned in their journey. Another photo displays the Pope in purple vestments utilizing a base altar sculpted from a shipwrecked migrant boat and a simple driftwood chalice to celebrate a mass for victims of traffickers. Collins points to a square photograph of the Pope smiling and greeting a pair of migrants.

“This is my second favorite photograph. Here he is meeting the migrant young people. These are the survivors that have managed to get from Northern Africa to the island of Lampedusa,” explained Collins. “The image shows his concern and interest in migration. There are a million people that have got over the shores from North Africa to Europe over the last 12 months. A million is a lot of people. It’s a phenomenon and Pope Francis has had 191,300 churches and parishes open up and take the people in.”

Collins then turns to a page containing a photograph of Pope Francis donning a red clown nose and sharing a laugh with newlyweds also wearing clown noses as they are members of the Rainbow Association Marco Iagulli Onlus – a clown therapy charity that cheers sick children.

“This is the photograph I like most of all,” said Collins. “The Pope is meeting a young couple that had gotten married and they are all wearing a clown nose. It shows that he isn’t really taken up with his own image. He doesn’t mind as long as it gets attention to the cause. If he thinks it’s a good cause, he would do anything.”

Pope Francis is composed of four parts. In the “Introduction” chapter, Collins writes of Pope Francis’ early years as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the son of an Italian migrant and the oldest of five children growing up in Buenos Aires. Collins chronicles the future Pope’s life in Argentina, the influence of his Italian grandparents and his Christian journey as a Jesuit priest, Bishop and Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Accompanying photographs include Bergoglio as an elementary school student in a bow tie sitting cross-legged for a class picture and a young Jorge at age 11 as a pupil at the Don Bosco School.

In the “New Pope” chapter, Collins examines the events from Pope Benedict’s Abdication to the mass of inauguration of Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Square.

The “Papal Visits” chapter covers the Pope’s travels through Italy and internationally from celebrating the Feast of St. Francis in Assisi to a stop in Cassano all’Ionio, Calabria where he met with victims of the Mafia. International travels include the Pope at World Youth Day in Brazil and a visit to a Philippines in recovery from a destructive typhoon.

The “Papal Year” chapter records a year in the life of the Pope. Photographs include the Pope washing the feet of offenders at a Rome detention center on Holy Thursday and a close-up of the Pope in red vestments lying flat on the floor in silent prayer on Good Friday. Other photographs depict the Pope’s delight in releasing a dove in St. Peter’s Square, kneeling in pensive prayer alongside Emeritus Pope Benedict, collecting handmade cards from a swarming circle of children, participating in a selfie with gleeful teens, kissing the hands of newly ordained priests and smiling amid youths while learning to spin a basketball.

“The major part of the book is a month to month account of what he does during the year,” said Collins. “The ‘Papal Year’ is the part that people seem to like most. I get a lot of correspondence and e-mails from people asking about this part of the book. It’s wonderful and a great opportunity to write back and explain how expressive Pope Francis is.”

Collins also received heartening feedback from Pope Francis himself on Pope Francis: A Photographic Portrait of the People’s Pope.

“I gave Pope Francis a copy of the book and he wrote back 2 days later — ‘thanks for the book I enjoyed reading it.’ He said it’s true what they say of a picture being worth a thousand words,” said Collins. “I was just thinking here is the Pope in Rome and there is an Irish priest working in Dublin putting this photograph album together and every page he looks and sees ‘it’s me it me’ — he must be interested in how we see him that way, how we perceive him.”

Collins was humbled by the Pope’s closing signature with the letter addressed to him. “I was laughing afterwards because he signed the letter ‘Fraternally yours, Francis’ which was very nice,” he said.

Patrons at the Porter Square Books were also impressed with Collins’ new title. Toting a signed copy, Daniel Griffin of Somerville shared his thoughts on Pope Francis.

“I think the book is great,” he said. “I teach seventh and eighth grade boys at St. John’s Prep in Danvers. I actually want the book for the boys to look at during the time of the Pope’s visit in Philly and New York. I’ll probably bring the book out and have the boys take a look through and talk about it in class.”

Griffin was also impressed with Collins’ inside perspective on the Vatican and Pope Francis. “I came here tonight to get children’s books for my cousin’s children and I saw that there is a priest here talking about Pope Francis,” he said. “I’m Jesuit educated and wanted to listen. I really enjoyed it a lot. I like hearing any sort of commentary on what is going on in the church right now — a lot of people need to hear what’s going on.”

Jim O’Loughlin of Arlington also enjoyed Collins’ talk and expressed his excitement for Pope Francis’ visit to the United States “I was just passing through and happened to hear him,” said O’Loughlin. “I thought he was a very good speaker. I am here not particularly of religious conviction, just curiosity. I like the fact that the Pope is coming to the country and that the Pope is raising issues on climate change and social justice which are largely ignored by our leaders and that the issues are actually now getting some attention because of the Pope.”

Over the past week, Collins’ book tour has brought him up the Atlantic seaboard from Washington DC and Philadelphia to New York and Boston. “I am now in Boston because it is a great Irish colony,” he joked. “I had to come to Boston.”

While in Boston, Collins enjoyed visiting the Catholic TV station during his stay.

“I was really impressed with them,” said Collins. “They are extraordinary, very professional, really really streets ahead of everybody else.”

He also expressed his reverence for Cardinal Séan Patrick O’Malley.

“There is a huge admiration for him Ireland. He is one of the team of cardinals that Pope Benedict sent after the sex abuse scandal in Ireland a few years and he was stunning. Of all the cardinals that came, he was the number one,” said Collins. “He also is such a down-to-earth guy, no airs or graces.”

During his spare time in Boston, Collins absorbed the city’s culture.

“I’ve loved Boston,” he said. “All of my free time has been spent in the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Every day I’ve gone to the Museum of Fine Arts. I’ve had four fabulous days there.”

He plans to write of Boston’s art museums in a column titled “Hidden Gems” for the Catholic Times in Britain. “It’s nice because with this column, I get to write for a different audience,” said Collins.

Throughout his US book tour, Collins has felt the excitement Americans exude for Pope Francis and his mission. “People are saying here and I think it’s true — what Pope Francis is doing is not changing the instruments as much as he is changing the tune, making it more mellow. A few people have said that to me and I think it’s very true,” said Collins. “People are coming in with great stories and people are really connecting with the Pope in the same way that a lot of people connected with Pope John Paul II. A lot of Americans had a great connection with Pope John Paul. He was the one who came here seven times after all to the states. I think people will be really impressed when they see Pope Francis in action walking the streets.”

Collins will travel from Boston back to New York and Philadelphia to be a part of Pope Francis’ US visit this week. “This is the first visit of an American Pope to America which is something to celebrate,” he said.

For more information on Fr. Michael Collins, visit fathermichaelcollins.com.