BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

As I have not had time to translate the two OR articles yesterday on the Pope's books, here's the CNS take on the interview with the head of the Vatican publishing house.

Gearing up for another papal bestseller
by Cindy Wooden


VATICAN CITY, jAN. 20 — The Vatican Publishing House is gearing up to distribute another blockbuster tome — this one the exclusive work of Pope Benedict XVI.

Salesian Father Giuseppe Costa, director of the publishing house, told the Vatican newspaper yesterday, “This morning I sent the text to various editors; the aim is to present it in March.”

The book is Jesus of Nazareth. Part Two. Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection. And the texts sent out are Vatican-controlled translations into a variety of languages.

The Pope’s book could come out just four months after the publication of Light of the World, a book-length interview with Pope Benedict conducted by the German journalist Peter Seewald. [Could? Ignatius Press which will publish it in the US is announcing a March date, and at the Frankfurt Book Fair last October, Fr. Costa himself said the book would come out before Easter. Amazon.com lists a March 15 release date for the book.]

Father Costa told L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, that Light of the World probably has sold close to 1 million copies since its late November release. The German edition — the original language — already has sold about 200,000 copies, he said. About 100,000 copies have been sold in Italian and another 100,000 English copies have flown off the shelves. The French edition has sold about 80,000 copies; there also are Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and other editions.

For the new book, he said contracts had been signed with 20 different publishing houses to print and distribute the Pope’s work and that five more contracts are in the negotiation stage.

The first volume of Jesus of Nazareth — looking at the period between his baptism and the Transfiguration — was published in 2007; it ran more than 400 pages and highlighted what the Bible says about Jesus, the moral implications of his teachings, and how reading the Scriptures can lead to a real relationship with Jesus.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters last summer that the Pope already began writing the third volume, which would look at Jesus’s childhood.


1/21/11
P.S. Belatedly, here is a translation of the interview with the LEV director:

Interview with head of Vatican publishing house:
'The success of LOTW reveals many things'
by Silvia Guidi
Translated from the 1/19/11 issue of


Two months ago, on November 20, pre-publication excerpts from Light of the World made headlines around the world [merely because of statements made by the Pope on condom use and AIDS].

Now, after publication, "So many readers, many of them non-Christian, have expressed their gratitude to us after having read the book", says don Giuseppe Costa, director of Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV), the Vatican publishing house.

Examining the reasons for the success of Benedict XVI's book-length interview with German journalist Peter Seewald, Fr. Costa said the success was not simply quantitative - with considerable figures: In the Italian version, two editions and a reprint in less than two months; 14 agreements with various publishers for as many language editions that have been released, and negotiations underway for translations in 11 more languages - but also qualitatively, in being able to reach and fascinate the reader with its simple, direct and colloquial language.

But for all that, Costa notes, Benedict XVI does not fail to be daringly anti-conformist in the full sense of the term, not resigning himself to the Zeitgeist - the spirit of the times.

"What does it really mean to be in step with the times", the Neapolitan writer Ruggero Guardini asked in a recent article, "if not to be, sic et sempliciter [just so and simply], perfectly conformist? In Stalinist Russia, it meant approving of the gulag, in nazi Germany, approving of the concentration camps. If a man possesses a desrie for truth, something in him will always resist or oppose the spirit of the times".

Book sales for Light of the World have been surprising. And soon, Volume 2 of JESUS OF NAZARETH will come out. At what point is it?
This morning, I sent off the text to the various publishing houses. The goal is to release the book in March, So far, we have signed up with 20 publishers, and are in the process of signing up with five more.

The text of LOTW was based on six hours of conversation between the Pope and Peter Seewald. What criteria were used for choosing and ordering the published material?
The questions were not a hundred, as we had originally thought, but double that. It reads easily and there was no need to abridge much of the transcript.

As it was often noted during the presentations of the book in Italy, the book is striking not only for the Pope's answers but for the questions that he places before the Lord: from the initial 'What can I say?' after his election as the Successor of Peter, but also his current concerns: "What can I do to lead in a world where progress itsedlf has become dangerous?", and of course his questions about the Church and about himself.

The style of the Pope's answers also show a different method from the style of the times based on 'self-esteem' and 'self-determination'. His conception of himself as and in a relationship with God is probably the true leitmotif ot the book.

In my opinion, the most beautiful parts of the book are the answers in which the Pope describes his personal relationship with God, with the calm and depth of a Romano Guardini, but the book does not ignore important topical subjects, such as the relationship between man and creation, or the present situation of the Church.

And when the problems of the Church are highlighted, it is always with a view to new growth. In short, it is a critique of the world by a believer who has the good of all men in his heart. Even when he condemns anything, it is always intended for the good of the sinner. I think this is something one can easily grasp from the text.

The interview format of the book must surely have favored its popularity, and a more familiar presentation of subjects that are normally considered 'elevated' and hardly accessible to the man on the street.
Even the book sales make several things clear: Buyers include so many children who have given the book to their parents, or vice versa. Many buyers have bought several copies to be able to give to relatives and friends.

This book shows the human face of a Pope whose reserve has always been over-emphasized. It shows the extraordinary freedom of Benedict XVI who does not shirk any question. LOTW is appreciated because in its breadth, it touches all the aspects of Christian life, and can be a true and proper spiritual itinerary.This is what makes the book one for all seasons and a 'longseller'. The immediacy of the Pope's answers is evident even in the italian translation.

It has not lacked for attention from the media even if it has not always been gratifying...
The early announcements and even the pre-publication excerpts were helpful because they contributed to attract public attention to the book - even if some, predictably, chose to focus on one detail out of the entire book.

But readers understand the media game, and they have rightly appreciated the book in its entirety. And after the numberless book reviews and TV and radio programs discuswsing the book, we continue to get requests for book presetnations all over Italy.

How has the book been received by non-Christians?
Very well! I was struck by a letter of thanks from a Jewish reader in Milan who said he was touched by the clarity and simplicity of the Pope's words.