“This book is . . . my personal search ‘for the face of the Lord.’” –Benedict XVIIn this bold, momentous work, the Pope––in his first book written as Benedict XVI––seeks to salvage the person of Jesus from recent “popular” depictions and to restore Jesus’ true identity as discovered in the Gospels. Through his brilliance as a theologian and his personal conviction as a believer, the Pope shares a rich, compelling, flesh-and-blood portrait of Jesus and incites us to encounter, face-...

In four superb homilies and a concluding essay, Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, provides a clear and inspiring exploration of the Genesis creation narratives.While the stories of the world's creation and the fall of humankind have often been subjected to reductionism of one sort or another — literalists treat the Bible as a science textbook whereas rationalists divorce God from creation — Ratzinger presents a rich, balanced Catholic understanding of these early biblical wri...

In this collection of his writings, Pope Benedict XVI speak to the important relationships between the environment, Catholic social teaching, and theology.During his papacy, Pope Benedict XVI repeatedly drew attention to the environment. He spoke of preserving it, such as his address concerning the Amazon rainforest and his letter regarding the Arctic, and of distributing its vital resources—such as water—more equitably. Benedict led by example wh...

For centuries, the use of Latin in the liturgy has been under attack.In these pages, Pope Benedict XIV (1675–1758) offers a convincing defense for the use of Latin as the normative liturgical language in the Mass of the Roman Catholic Church. Although the attacks over the use of Latin in Pope Benedict XIV's time stemmed primarily from the Protestant schism, the objections today are very similar. With charity and reason, the Holy Father seeks to bring clarity to this most important ...

For Christians, Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, who died for the sins of the world, and who rose from the dead in triumph over sin and death. For non-Christians, he is almost anything else--a myth, a political revolutionary, a prophet whose teaching was misunderstood or distorted by his followers.Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and no myth, revolutionary, or misunderstood prophet, insists Benedict XVI. He thinks that the best of historical scholarship, while it can't "pro...

During the late Crusader period the Roman Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church attempted to establish an ecclesiastical union, under the auspices of similar doctrines and as a means of political alliance with the Latin held crusader states.This attempt at union was short-lived and merited little in terms of ecumenical dialogue. In 1341, Pope Benedict XII issues this document, serving as a polemic against members of the Armenian Church which did not see eye-to-eye with Rome in ...

Foreword by George Weigel. Never has a Pope in a book-length interview dealt so directly with such wide-ranging and controversial issues as Pope Benedict XVI does in Light of the World. Taken from a recent week-long series of interviews with veteran journalist Peter Seewald this book tackles head-on some of the greatest issues facing the world of our time. Seewald poses such forthright questions to Pope Benedict as: What caused the clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church? Was there a "c...

Following his best selling book, Jesus of Nazareth, and his talks published in Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church, Pope Benedict?s Church Fathers presents these important figures of early Christianity in all their evangelical vitality, spiritual profundity, and uncompromising love of God. Benedict tells the true story of Christianity?s against-all-odds triumph in the face of fierce Roman hostility and persecution. He does this by exploring the lives and th...

After Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI resigned from the papacy in 2013, he never stopped thinking or writing. Near the end of his life, he and editor Elio Guerriero gathered together a whole volume of new material, dealing with the themes closest to his heart. The pope asked that it be published upon his death.This final work is What Is Christianity? It takes up a kaleidoscopic array of themes: the Christian faith's relationship with other religions, especially Judaism and Isla...

The human heart longs to be united with God, and it is only in prayer—as we answer God’s invitation to become friends of Jesus—that men and women can satisfy the deepest desires of their heart. These short meditations are taken from Pope Benedict XVI’s audiences, homilies, addresses, and writings from the past seven years of his pontificate, including his most recent catechesis on prayer. Because he is steeped in personal prayer and the liturgical and traditional prayers of the Church, the...

St. Paul is one of the most important figures in Christian history. As Saul of Tarsus he vigorously persecuted Christianity, even collaborating in the death of Christianity's first martyr, Stephen. His encounter with the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus changed Paul's life, the Christian Church, and world history. More than anyone else in the early Church, Paul saw the universal nature of the Christian message. He became the Apostle to the Gentiles and the "Teacher of the Nations"...

In celebration of the 2021 visit to the University of Notre Dame by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, as well as the thirtieth anniversary of his election, this groundbreaking volume gathers together and introduces eleven important joint statements from the patriarch, addressing diverse topics from climate change to ecumenical dialogue.As the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, His All-Holiness Bartholomew, Orthodox Archbishop of Constant...