Amid a growing secularity in America and the rest of the western world and a gnawing uncertainty about his own beliefs, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Timothy Egan decided to trace the footsteps of centuries of religious seekers. He set out on the Via Francigena—the ancient, more than thousand-mile route of spiritual and internal reflection, ending in Rome—in search of some sort of clarity.

His ultimate goal was an audience with the galvanizing pope (Francis) struggling to hold the Catholic Church together through its worst crisis in half a millennium.

Egan recounts his journey in a discussion of his ninth book, A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith, in which he explores one of the biggest stories of our time: the collapse of religion in the world it created. The presentation is co-presented by Friends of the Kansas City Public Library (commemorating National Friends of the Library Week) and Rainy Day Books.