The Essential Pope Benedict XVI: His Central Writings and Speeches

510 Pages·2008·1.87 MB·English

by  John F. Thornton

THE
ESSENTIAL
POPE BENEDICT XVI
His Central Writings and Speeches
edited by
John F. Thornton and Susan B. Varenne
introduction by
D. Vincent Twomey, SVD
Professor of Moral Theology, St. Patrick’s College, Ireland
To Benedict XVI
Ad multos annos
“I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”
—John 15:16
We have received the faith to give it to others. We are priests meant to serve
others. And we must bring a fruit that will remain. All people want to leave a
mark which lasts. But what remains? Money does not. Buildings do not, nor
books. After a certain amount of time, whether long or short, all these things
disappear. The only thing which remains forever is the human soul, the
human person created by God for eternity. The fruit which remains then is
that which we have sowed in human souls: love, knowledge, a gesture capable
of touching the heart, words which open the soul to joy in the Lord. Let us
then go to the Lord and pray to Him, so that He may help us bear fruit which
remains.
Only in this way will the earth be changed from a valley of tears to a garden
of God.
—Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,
from his homily at the Mass for
the Election of the Roman Pontiff,
April 18, 2005
The first rams of the flock, the blessed apostles, saw the Lord Jesus himself
hanging on the cross; they grieved at his death, were astounded at his resur-
rection, loved him in his power, and shed their own blood for what they had
seen. Just think, brothers and sisters, what it meant for men to be sent
throughout the wide world, to preach that a dead man had risen again and
ascended into heaven; and for preaching this to suffer everything a raving,
raging world could inflict: loss of goods, exile, chains, tortures, fl ames, wild
beasts, crosses, painful deaths. All this for heaven knows what!
I mean, really, my brothers and sisters, was Peter dying for his own glory, or
proclaiming himself? One man was dying that another might be honored, one
being slain that another might be worshiped. Would he have done this, if he
hadn’t been on fire with love, and utterly convinced of the truth?
—St.Augustine,
from Sermon 311, 2,
“Preaching that a dead man had risen!”

Contents
Epigrph iii
Preface ix
Introduction by
D. Vincent Twomey, SVD xiii
Chronology of the Life of Pope Benedict XVI xxxv
1 Introduction to Chris tian ity 1
part one
SERMONS AND ADDRESSES
2 Homily at John Paul II’s Funeral Mass 17
3 Homily at the Mass for
the Election of the Roman Pontiff 21
4 First Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI at
the End of the Eucharistic Concelebration with the
Cardinal Electors in the Sistine Chapel 25
5 Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI at
the Mass of Inauguration of His Pontifi cate 31
6 Message on the Twenty-fi fth Anniversary of
the Pontificate of Pope John Paul II from
the College of Cardinals 37
vi contents
7 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 Pontifi cate 41
8 The Assisi Day of Prayer 43
9 The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty 47
10 Guardini on Christ in Our Century 53
11 Christ the Liberator 57
part two
THE CHURCH
12 At the Root of the Crisis 63
13 Eucharist, Communion, and Solidarity 69
14 The Ecclesiology of the Constitution on
the Church: Lumen Gentium 85
15 The Local Church and the Universal Church 103
16 The Canon of Criticism 111
17 The Basis of Chris tian Brotherhood: Faith 133
part three
THE LITURGY
18 Theology of the Liturgy 141
19 On the Theological Basis of Prayer and Liturgy 155
20 The Regensburg Tradition and the Reform of the Liturgy 167
21 Music and Liturgy 185
22 Sacred Places 193
23 The Beginning of the Council and
the Transfer to Münster 201
contents vii
part four
THEOLOGY
24 On the Meaning of Faith 211
25 Liberation Theology 217
26 Relativism: The Central Problem for Faith Today 227
part five
SCRIPTURE
27 Biblical Interpretation in Crisis 243
28 Sin and Salvation 259
29 Meditation on the Priesthood 269
30 The Place of Mariology in the Bible 283
part six
THE PRIESTHOOD
31 The Nature of the Priesthood 293
32 The Ministry and Life of Priests 305
33 The Sacrament of Reconciliation 319
part seven
CHRIS TIAN MORALITY
34 Europe’s Crisis of Culture 325
35 Truth and Freedom 337
36 The Church’s Teaching 355
37 Culture and Truth: Some Refl ections on
the Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio 367
viii contents
38 Crises of Law 377
39 The Problem of Threats to Human Life 381
part eight
GOD IS LOVE
40 Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love) 395
Notes 427
Bibliography 447
Index 451
Acknowledgments 461
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