The first English-language edition of a book co-written by Pope Francis, when he was still known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and an Argentine Rabbinical leader will be published on May 7.

The book entitled "On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family and the Church in the 21st Century" will be released in the U.S. and Canada by Image Books. Cardinal Bergoglio was elected as Pope on March 13 and now leads the worlds 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

The book includes discussions between Pope Francis, who was then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Rabbi Abraham Skorka, Rector of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary in Buenos Aires.

Topics discussed include God, fundamentalism, atheism, the Holocaust, abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, same-sex marriage and globalization.

"Dialogue is born from an attitude of respect towards another person, from a conviction that the other has something good to say," then-Cardinal Bergoglio said.

Publishing executive Maya Mavjee of the Crown Publishing Group, who acquired the North American rights to the book, says its "context of interreligious dialogue is one that will have great global appeal, speaking to Catholics and to readers across a wide range of faith and cultural backgrounds."

The book was initially published in a 2010 Spanish-language edition in Latin America and Spain by Random House Mondadori.

It will be published in the U.S. and Canada by Image Books, the Catholic-interest imprint of U.S. publisher Random House. The publisher is a subsidiary of German media firm Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA.

Here is the English-edition book's description from the publisher:

"From the man who became Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio shares his thoughts on religion, reason, and the challenges the world faces in the 21st century with Abraham Skorka, a rabbi and biophysicist.

"For years Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Argentina, and Rabbi Abraham Skorka were tenacious promoters of interreligious dialogues on faith and reason. They both sought to build bridges among Catholicism, Judaism, and the world at large. On Heaven and Earth, originally published in Argentina in 2010, brings together a series of these conversations where both men talked about various theological and worldly issues, including God, fundamentalism, atheism, abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and globalization. From these personal and accessible talks comes a first-hand view of the man who would become pope to 1.2 billion Catholics around the world in March 2013."