Franciscan Media Books has partnered with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic News Service to release an official commemorative book documenting Pope Francis’ historic pilgrimage to Cuba and the United States Sept. 19-27. Two million Americans are expected to attend the liturgies, speeches and festivities celebrating Pope Francis’ first trip to the U.S.

Love Is Our Mission: Pope Francis in America will feature high-quality photographs and on-the-scene reporting from Catholic News Service. The editorial team of Franciscan Media’s St. Anthony Messenger, the national Catholic family magazine, will compile content for the book slated for release at the end of October.

American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) honored best-selling author Francine Rivers with the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award at the ACFW Awards Gala. Many other Christian writers, editors and agents also were honored at the gala, held Saturday evening, Sept. 19 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas/Fort Worth.

“Few people have had the kind of impact that Francine Rivers has had through her Christian fiction," said ACFW CEO Coleen Coble. "Many readers mark her books as spiritual turning points in their lives.”

Don Piper’s best-seller 90 Minutes in Heaven (Revell/Baker Publishing Group) was featured last week on two of The New York Times best-sellers lists, ranking No. 13 on the Print Paperback and No. 19 on the Combined Print & E-Book lists. The rankings reflect sales for the week ending Sept. 12.

The book was published to coincide with the same-named film adaptation starring Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth and directed by Michael Polish.

While many customers loathe Christmas’ early arrival in retail stores, two new studies reveal that some consumers have been taking advantage of what has been termed "Christmas creep." In fact, a small minority of customers have already finished their holiday shopping.

A poll by creditcards.com found that 14 percent of consumers have started their holiday shopping. The survey further adds that 2 percent of them have finished with the annual task. By contrast, 55 percent of holiday shoppers said that they would not finish shopping until December, and 20 percent said they would not be finished until Christmas Eve.

The Newsboys celebrated its new exclusive recording agreement Monday with Fair Trade Services. The band is in the studio working on its highly anticipated label debut, slated to release next March.

The majority of U.S. consumers believe new credit cards being issued by banks don’t go far enough to protect card data or prevent fraud, according to a National Retail Federation (NRF) survey released Wednesday.

Among those surveyed, 62 percent said they prefer chip-and-PIN cards rather than cards that just use chip and signature, and 63 percent said chip-and-PIN cards provide more data security than those that don’t. Among millennials, the preference for PIN cards was even stronger, at 71 percent.

BroadStreet Publishing has announced its new “Majestic Expressions” brand, a Scripture-based adult coloring book line.

Coloring books designed for adults are becoming more popular as adults enjoy not only the creative outlet but also the therapeutic release of coloring time in a digital age. These inspirational coloring books invite adults to break away from their busy schedules and tap into their creative mind by filling in the Scripture-inspired illustrations with color.