Not only is Monsignor Franco a Son of the Church, he is a son of New York and Italian immigrants. Born in the Bronx, his work has taken him all around the world, including Staten Island in the 1960’s to the Church of the Assumption on Brighton Avenue in Tompkinsville. Monsignor Franco even organized dances at the church and invited Chubby Checker, of “The Twist”  fame  to host one evening!

As a young man he attended Rome’s premier seminary, served in various parishes and became the special assistant to Archbishop Fulton Sheen. This most formidable churchman reveals his tales of intellectual, pastoral, and diplomatic service to the Catholic Church, enlivened by recollections of the fascinating people he came to know from U.S. presidents and foreign heads of state, to religious leaders like Padre Pio and Saint Mother Teresa.