The Essential Pope Benedict XVI - His Central Writings and Speeches

Product Description

On April 24, 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, the successor of the Apostle Peter and the spiritual leader of more than one billion Roman Catholics. This collection lays out Benedict’s thinking and relates it to a variety of contemporary issues, including modern culture’s abandonment of traditional religious values, social mores regarding conception and the sanctity of life, current challenges to the priesthood, and the Catholic Church’s relations with other world religions.

Table of Contents:

Preface
Introduction by D. Vincent Twomey, SVD
Chronology of the Life of Pope Benedict XVI
Introduction to Christianity

PART ONE: SERMONS AND ADDRESSES

Homily at John Paul II's Funeral Mass
Homily at the Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff
First Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI at the End of the Eucharistic Concelebration with the Cardinal Electors in the Sistine Chapel
Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI at the Mass of Inauguration of His Pontificate
Message on the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Pontificate of Pope John Paul II from the College of Cardinals
Address of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to Pope John Paul II at a Concert Offered by the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Orchestra on the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of His Pontificate
The Assisi Day of Prayer
The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty
Guardini on Christ in our Century
Christ the Liberator

PART TWO: THE CHURCH

At the Root of the Crisis
Eucharist, Communion, and Solidarity
The Ecclesiology of the Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium
The Local Church and the Universal Church
The Canon of Criticism
The Basis of Christian Brotherhood: Faith

PART THREE: THE LITURGY

Theology of the Liturgy
On the Theological Basis of Prayer and Liturgy
The Regensburg Tradition and the Reform of the Liturgy
Music and Liturgy
Sacred Places
The Beginning of the Council and the Transfer to Munster

PART FOUR: THEOLOGY

On the Meaning of Faith
Liberation Theology
Relativism: The Central Problem for Faith Today

PART FIVE: SCRIPTURE

Biblical Interpretation in Crisis
Sin and Salvation
Meditation on the Priesthood
The Place of Mariology in the Bible

PART SIX: THE PRIESTHOOD

The Nature of the Priesthood
The Ministry and Life of Priests
The Sacrament of Reconciliation

PART SEVEN: CHRISTIAN MORALITY

Europe's Crisis of Culture
Truth and Freedom
The Church's Teaching
Culture and Truth: Some Reflections on the Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio
Crises of Law
The Problem of Threats to Human Life

PART EIGHT: GOD IS LOVE

Deus Caritas Est (God is Love)

Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments