Benedict XVI: A Life Volume Two: Professor and Prefect to Pope and Pope Emeritus 1966The Present

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Emeritus Pope Benedict commanded both adulation and unremitting criticism. To millions, he was a beacon of light in a turbulent modern world. In this second volume of Peter Seewalds authoritative biography, the story continues from the Second Vatican Council (19658) right up to his resignation in 2013. We see how Benedict was influenced by the Council and the ensuing political unrest all over Europe to move from a liberal perspective on the Church and the modern world to one that was profoundly conservative. Appointed in 1981 as prefect of the Congregation of Doctrine of the Faith, and quickly nicknamed Gods Rottweiler, he proved to be intransigent on the controversial issues of abortion, contraception, gay rights and gay marriage. But elected Pope in 2005, his tenure of office was so riven with shocking revelations of controversy and scandal that it seemed that by the time of his resignation in 2013 he was incapable of handling the complexities of the Church in the modern world.

Reviews

Seewald's passionate biography makes one sympathise with the bookish Bavarian. * Daniel Rey, Literary Review *
An insight into hard times. * The Tablet *

Author Bio

Peter Seewald has worked as a journalist for Stern, Spiegel and the Sddeutsche Zeitung and is one of the most admired authors on religion in Germany today. Throughout his career he has remained one of the writers closest to Pope Benedict and has interviewed him for countless hours. His book of conversations with Pope Benedict, Last Testament, was published by Bloomsbury Continuum in 2016, and the first volume of his biography of the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was published by the same imprint in late 2020.