I have not dared imagine how, if at all, the Catholic world - other than those who love and admire him - might pause a moment to think of Benedict XVI and pray for him when he turns 88 five days from now, and when we come to the 10th anniversary of his election eight days from now.
But let us be thankful to the Vatican publishing house LEV which is coming out with a book to mark the 10th anniversary of his election as Pope, as Beatrice discovered, but not from any official Vatican news site.
LEV is publishing the book although Benedict XVI is no longer Pope, and that says something. I doubt they would have done it if he were deceased - for instance, I don't think they published any book for the 10th anniversary of St. John XXIII's election (he was Pope for five years). On the other hand, the B16 years represented a definite boom for LEV, with record-breaking sales on all their offerings by and about B16 (not to mention all the royalties on any and all Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI books published since he became Pope, of which 50% goes to LEV and 50% to the Fondazione Vaticana JR/BXVI). [BTW, in two years, I have yet to see LEV crow about their JMB/PF book sales, which also tells us something surprising, considering the unprecedented popularity of the current Pope.)
Surprisingly, the news about the new LEV book has come out first, as Beatrice noted, on the website of
a site I really should visit more regularly. It is now trilingual (Italian, English and Spanish) and it has a number of interesting features. Here is its announcement of the LEV book:
Events to mark the 10th anniversary
of Benedict XVI's election as Pope
The book
Benedetto XVI: Servo di Dio e degli uomini (Benedict XVI: Servant of God and of men), published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana, will be presented on April 20 at 6.30 p.m., at the Campo Santo Teutonico, (Via della Sagrestia 17, Vatican City).
[This is the site of the German college with chapel and cemetery within the Vatican. From 1982-2005, Cardinal Ratzinger celebrated Thursday morning Mass at the chapel when he was in Rome.]
The book was published to mark the 10th anniversary of the papal election of Joseph Ratzinger, on 19th April 2005.
The meeting will start with the greetings and the presentation of the project “Biblioteca Romana Joseph Ratzinger-Benedetto XVI” [Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Roman Library) by Monsignor Stefan Heid, director of the Roman Institute of Görres-Gesellschaft.
[Isn't it great there will be such a library in Rome?]
Next, Father Giuseppe Costa, director of the Libreria Editrice Vaticana and Albrecht Weiland, director of the Schnell & Steiner publishing company of Regensburg, will greet the audience. Schnell & Steiner has published the book in German.
Christian Schaller, vice director of the Institut Papst Benedikt XVI of Regensburg and awarded with the Ratzinger Prize in 2013, will present the book.
Many different authors collaborated to this book, which offers a portrait of Ratzinger’s life and works through words and images.
“People wanted to see Benedict XVI, but above all they needed to listen to him,” said Archbishop Georg Gänswein.
The aim of the book is in fact to give the emeritus Pope a continuing 'voice' in the Church today.
Also to mark the 10th anniversary, the Herder publishing company has organized a lecture-conference by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and general editor of the Opera Omnia (COMPLETE WRITINGS) of Joseph Ratzinger.
The event will take place on April 17 at 7 p.m., also at the Campo Santo Teutonico.
Joseph Ratzinger's 'Complete Writings':
Interview with the director of LEV,
publisher of the Italian edition
by Luca Caruso
Translated from
March 18, 2015
At what point are we with the publication of Joseph Ratzinger's COMPLETE WRITINGS? Fr. Giuseppe Costa, director of the Libreria Editrice Vaticana (Vatican publishing house, was asked about this in this interview.
Who is in charge of publishing Joseph Ratzinger's COMPLETE WRITINGS?
That is in the hands of Cardinal Gerard Ludwig Mueller, who coordinates it through the Institut Papst Benedikt XVI based in Regensburg.
LEV has a direct involvement with the Italian edition. Our involvement takes into account Benedict XVI's own wishes, who asked us not to make haste with the publication and to give priority to the volumes with the greatest pastoral significance. We must also consider that our translators must know German very well.
How are the translations being made from the original German?
LEV has the publishing rights to the COMPLETE WRITINGS, and we can extend these rights to other publishers on request. This year, we gave the rights to the French publishing house Parole et Silence, which has just published the first volume. (This was
Jesus de Nazareth: Le figure et le message, presented by Cardinal Mueller at the College des Bernardins in Paris on March 25. It contains the entire JESUS OF NAZARETH trilogy and comprises Book 1 of Volume 6 of the COMPLETE WRITINGS; Book 2 is an anthology of Joseph Ratzinger's shorter Christological writings.)
In Spain, we have given the rights to the Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (BAC), which is under the auspices of the Spanish bishops' conference - they have published Vol. 4 of the opera omnia. In the United States, Ignatius Press has published the first volume of the English edition. There is also a Polish edition being published by
Wydawnictwo Kul of Lublin. The original edition in German is, of course, published by Herder,
How's the work going for the Italian edition?
We translate from the German, adapting the bibliography to the corresponding books available in Italian. This aspect takes time, for all of the translations. And our translators from the German must all have specific competencies. Prof. Pierluca Azzaro is in charge of supervising this translation, with the approval of Cardinal Mueller.
In Novembre 2013, we published the third release in the Italian edition,
Gesù di Nazaret – La figura e il Messaggio, Book-1 of Volume 6. We are now working on Book 2, the other Christological writings, with a target publication date in October.
How have the books been received by the public?
We have had many requests from Italian readers*. The first volume we published, on liturgy, has gone through three printings, which is rare in these days of crisis for book publishing. We had great success as well with the two other volumes released after that, one on the priesthood, and now, with the complete JESUS OF NAZARETH in one volume.
*
[One must note that the hardback volumes - no paperbacks seem to be planned - are priced like academic textbooks, since they are aimed primarily at scholars and libraries, rather than the man on the street].
The Fondazione website also provides an up-to-date presentation of the COMPLETE WRITINGS volumes that have been published so far in various languages:
1. POPOLO E CASA DI DIO NELL’ECCLESIOLOGIA DI SANT’AGOSTINO
(The People and the House fo God in the Ecclesiology of St. Augustine)
Degree thesis and other studies on Augustine of Hippo
(published in German, Spanish)
2. COMPRENSIONE DELLA RIVELAZIONE E TEOLOGIA DELLA STORIA IN SAN BONAVENTURA
(Understanding Revelation and the Theology of History according to St. Bonaventure)
The entire written dissertation written by Joseph Ratzinger for his Habilitation (license to teach at German universities). [Before this, only the second part of the text had been published - the part he decided to submit after his dissertation adviser severely rejected his first submission.] The volume also includes other writings on St. Bonaventure.
(German, Spanish)
3. IL DIO DELLA FEDE E IL DIO DEI FILOSOFI
(The God of Faith and the God of Philosophers)
The mutual relationship between faith and reason
4. INTRODUZIONE AL CRISTIANESIMO (Introduction to Christianity)
Faith – Baptism – Obedience to Christ
5. ORIGINE E DESTINO DELL’UOMO (Origin and Destiny of Man)
Creation – Anthropology – Mariology
6. GESÙ DI NAZARETH - two books
Spiritual Christology
(German - both books; French and Italian - Book 1 so far]
7. TEOLOGIA DEL CONCILIO (Theology of the Council) - two books
Texts on the Second Vatican Council Concilio Vaticano II
(German - both books; Spanish - Book 1)
8. SEGNO TRA I POPOLI (A Sign among Peoples)
Texts on Ecclesiology and Ecumenism
(German)
9. RIVELAZIONE – SCRITTURA – TRADIZIONE (Revelation, Scripture, Tradition)
Hermeneutics and principles of Catholic Theology
10. RESURREZIONE E VITA ETERNA (Resurrection and Eternal Life)
Contributions to eschatology
(German)
11. TEOLOGIA DELLA LITURGIA (The Theology of Liturgy)
(German, English, Italian, Polish, Spanish)
12. ANNUNCIATORI DELLA PAROLA E SERVITORI DELLA VOSTRA GIOIA
(Announcers of the Word and Servants of Your Joy)
Theology and spirituality of Holy Orders)
(German, Italian, Polish, Spanish)
13. A COLLOQUIO COL PROPRIO TEMPO (Conversing with Our Time)
Interviews – Opinions – Objections
14. OMELIE E PREDICHE PER L’ANNO LITURGICO (Homilies and Preachings throughout the Liturgical Year)
Meditations – Prayers – Reflections
15. LA MIA VITA (My Life)
Autobiographical texts
16. BIBLIOGRAFIA E INDICI (Bibliography and Indexes)
Lastly, the latest photograph available online from Mater Ecclesiae
is this one picked up by Beatrice from the Donaukurier, a Bavarian regional newspaper, published on April 7, 2015:
She also provides some information about the photograph (the site is available only to subscribers), as follows:
Six seminarians from the Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt in Bavaria were in Rome recently for a weeklong pilgrimage as part of their training. They attended a Wednesday GA with Pope Francis and then visited Benedict XVI at Mater Ecclesiae.
The emeritus Pope was very eager to get news about the University, from which he has an honorary doctorate. It is the only Catholic university in Germany today, and, as Archbishop of Munich-Freising, he had been instrumental in its creation in 1980.
(Eichstätt is a city in central Bavaria, situated between Munich and Nuremberg.)
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/04/2015 05:31]