I am not surprised that Aldo Maria Valli's new book, released in Italy today on the eve of the Feast of St. Joseph, should be about Benedict XVI. A great name-day offering, BTW, to the Emeritus
Pope. All of Valli's commentaries in the year since he declared his open disillusion with the reigning pope and his pontificate have amounted to a fresh look by him, veteran Vaticanista, at the
Pontificate and teachings of Benedict XVI, so that almost every commentary of his criticizing Bergoglio for something specific almost always ends up with a reference to what Benedict XVI had to
say about that topic... It is also a commentary in itself that Valli chose to 'mark' the fifth anniversary of Bergoglio's election as pope with a book celebrating his predecessor... Marco Tosatti,
whom Valli asked to write the Foreword to his new book, tells us more about it (but not yet the text of his Foreword)...
Re-thinking Benedict VI:
A new book by Aldo Maria Valli
Translated from
March 18, 2018
Dear friends and foes of Stilum Curiae, it is with pleasure that today I present to you the latest book by Aldo Maria Valli,
Uno sguardo nella notte. Ripensando Benedetto XVI” (Nighttime retrospection: Rethinking Benedict XVI) (Hong Kong: Chorabooks).
['Uno sguardo nella notte' literally means 'a look at night' or 'a look into the night', and I have chosen for now to translate it as 'night-time retrospections', based on the context for the book.] Valli, Vatican correspondent for Italian state TV RAI’s premier newscast, TG1, is the author of several books published by Lindau, Ancora, Mondadori, Liberalibri, and other publishers. This is first book published by Chorabooks.
We write this today, eve of the feast of St. Joseph, as a homage to Benedict XVI on his name day. In my humble opinion, it is a precious book that offers a lookback at a dramatic pontificate, that of Benedict XVI, which ended in a totally dramatic way. Here, we publish the blurb from Chorabooks, followed by the book’s Table of Contents, which by itself, underscores and provides an overview of all the difficulties and crises in those eight years.
The blurb:
“The recent letter of Benedict XVI to Mons. Dario Vigano, prefect of the Secretariat for Communication, has brought back attention to Joseph Ratzinger and his thought. In the letter, explaining that he cannot add his reflection to that of 11 theologians who had written one booklet each about the theology of Pope Francis [an instant thematic series on Pope Francis by the Vatican publishing house on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of his election as pope], the emeritus Pope writes that he has previous commitments to fulfill, something which his admirers were only too happy to hear. Because it means that despite his advanced age and its attendant infirmities, Joseph Ratzigner continues to lead an active life.
Meanwhile, the ‘paradigm shift’ that Pope Francis is asking of ‘the Church’, with his emphasis on mercy more than on divine law and on the moral obligations deriving therefrom, imposes a re-reading of Benedict VI’s magisterium. In fact, a number of observers who see in Francis’s teaching the risk of yielding to relativism have precisely gone back to Joseph Ratzinger’s teachings to underscore what the Church has always taught as correct doctrine and practice.
A rather curious fate for Benedict VI- to be invoked as Emeritus Pope, after having been attacked so viciously while he was the Pope. Thus, Aldo Maria Valli’s new book is coming out opportunely. TG1’s Vaticanista, who has already written two books on Joseph Ratzinger [La verità del papa (Lindau) and Il pontificato interrotto (Mondadori)] calls the reader’s attention above all to what he calls the authentic persecution to which the German Pope has been subjected, in which he has constantly been snapped at, if not mauled, by the wolves of progressivism and secularism (the wolves he had predicted at the start of his pontificate), but also by those who espouse modernism in the Church today, for his consistency of thought and his rigor in showing the way of truth and freedom in their most authentic meaning.
If Valli’s book, as Marco Tosatti notes in his Preface, is on the one hand an act of justice towards Ratzinger, it also contributes to identify papal teaching that has never been more precious and relevant, as are Benedict VI’s thoughts on the future of Christianity in a society under the double pressure of Godlessness and Islamism.
But even Benedict VI’s teachings on the liturgy and the centrality of the Eucharist in a time at which we are witnessing a dangerous drift which undermines the very heart of the Church because, as Joseph Ratzinger has said, “The crisis of the Church is a crisis of the liturgy”.
There are therefore numerous reasons to turn back to Benedict VI, whose teachings continue to be – today, more than ever – a look into the night”.
For now, here is the book’s Table of Contents in Italian (will translate later, though much of it is understandable without translation):
Sommario
Prefazione (Marco Tosatti)
Introduzione: Il Papa della verità
I
“Ad cognitionem certa pervenit…”
Come il pastore fu azzannato dai lupi
Quattro punti
Indebolimento della fede
Lapidazione mediante mass media
L’offensiva del New York Times
Un “ignobile intento”
Una campagna disonesta
Stampa scatenata
Un cappuccino nella tempesta
Di nuovo sotto accusa
L’arma della generalizzazione
Un’Inquisizione per il Papa
Curiose lezioni di stile
Martini difende Benedetto
II
La Sapienza degli intolleranti
Libertà negata
La conoscenza del bene
Non di sola scientia
Se la ragione diventa sorda
Irrisione e aggressività
Illuminismo da bar
La cultura dell’et et
Il padre punito
E prima avevano tentato con l’Islam
Manipolazione e strumentalizzazione
La vergogna del Belgio
Lenta evaporazione di una Chiesa
Preti gay? Colpa di Ratzinger
Benedetto come Pinochet?
III
Le due Chiese
Un fraintendimento pericoloso
No all’utopismo spiritualistico
Una nota di dolore
Un uomo pericoloso
Testimone della verità
Quaerere Deum
Una poderosa provocazione
Troppo normativo? Troppo occidentale?
Centralità dell’Europa
Una scelta ponderata
Una religione ragionevole
Un’altra colpa: lavorò per l’unità dei cristiani
Il Summorum pontificum
L’umiltà del Papa
Umanità dell’auctoritas
Altri veleni
Per i fratelli ortodossi
IV
Raddrizzare l’intelligenza cristiana
Caritas in veritate
Se la persecuzione viene da dentro
Non più umana, ma più divina
La penitenza è una grazia
Attualità del messaggio di Fatima
Non cercare giustificazioni
“Osservate più spesso le stelle”
Il peccato nasce dal cedimento alla mentalità del mondo
V
Ultime lezioni
Pro Ecclesiae vitae
“Grazie per la vostra simpatia”
“La Chiesa è viva!”
All’insegna della verità
Eucharistomen
****************************************************************************************************************************************
Meanwhile, a revelation which, I am pretty sure, is really a surprise to all but the most dedicated followers of contemporary Catholic literature, as the name is hardly a household name....
Author of 'The Dictator Pope' revealed
(officially) - paper book format now available
Posted on 19 March 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
Some people were clued in a long time ago, but were asked to keep it under wraps. Now it is out in the open.
The Dictator Pope (revised and updated) – now available in hard copy from Regnery for pre-order - highly critical of Pope Francis and those around him, originally was published under the pen name of “Marcantonio Colonna”.
Previously, the book was available only on Kindle. Now the author's name has been revealed.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marcantonio Colonna is the pen name of Henry Sire (H. J. A. Sire), an author and historian. Sire was born in 1949 in Barcelona to a family of French ancestry. He was educated in England at the Jesuits’ centuries-old Stonyhurst College and at Exeter College, Oxford, where he gained an honors degree in Modern History. He is the author of six books on Catholic history and biography, including one on the famous English Jesuit, writer, and philosopher Father Martin D’Arcy, SJ. The Dictator Pope is the fruit of Henry Sire’s four-year residence in Rome from 2013 to 2017. During that time he became personally acquainted with many figures in the Vatican, including Cardinals and Curial officials, together with journalists specializing in Vatican affairs.
He is also the author of another book, which I’ve noted here in the past.
Phoenix from the Ashes: The Making, Unmaking, and Restoration of Catholic Tradition
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 20/03/2018 16:14]