Book watch:
13 days to go
We know that the English edition has been read and briefly reviewed by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, because Ignatius Press uses his review in its blurb for the book. And one imagines that the various publishers would by now have given out the manuscript for review by selected names to be ready for publication when the book is launched. The Vatican publishing house LEV may be lagging behind, because the Italian booksellers advertising the book online still do not have a cover picture, nor does LEV on its own site. But it seems someone at Panorama magazine has seen something of the book - or the manuscript... But so far, I have been unable to find the Panorama article online.
ROME, Nov. 11 (Translated from ASCA)- "We are not a production center, nor are we an enterprise for profit. We are the Church!"
Benedict XVI does not mince words in his new interview book
Luce del mondo: Il Papa, la Chiesa e i segni dei tempi, which will be issued simultaneously around the world on November 24, and that Panorama magazine previews in its weekly issue that goes on sale tomorrow.
The reference was to the financial 'scandals' that have swirled around the Vatican bank, but it also applies in general.
The Pope did not draw back from any of the questions posed by the Bavarian journalist Peter Seewald - more than 90 questions, which with the Pope's answers, make up 284 pages in the Italian edition.
Apparently, no one at the Vatican had read Seewald's manuscript - in German, as the interview was conducted in German - other than the Pope himself, who reviewed it carefully; his longtime personal collaborator Ingrid Stampa, who undertook or supervised the Italian translation; and possibly, Cardinal William Levada of the CDF, whom the Pope entrusted with reviewing the text for any possible theological or doctrinal issues. It seems the Pope did not even show it to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
Thus, there is great expectation. The Pope speaks of the pedophile issue, Islam, married priests, divorce, contraception, Church reform, liturgy, relationship with the Orthodox, the Pope's authority... And even about his predecessor, John Paul II.
Panorama says that his answers are never standard nor expected. As when he talks about the Church, saying "We are a community of persons who live in the faith. Our task is not to create a product or make a successful sale".