This 'tabloidian' headline appears at the top of http://www.zenit.org/article-33158?l=english (July 26) about, 'Mein Bruder der Papst' which has been written by Mgr Georg Ratzinger in collaboration with the historian Michael Hesemann. It will be published to coincide with Pope Benedict's visit to Germany in September. During the interview with Zenit, Hesemann reveals the nature of this 'secret' and also two 'surprises'. I doubt that the secret or the surprises will amaze anyone who has read Joseph Ratzinger's own 'Milestones', and also the several biographies of him written since 2005. I must admit though, to a raised eyebrow on reading that Hesemann was surprised 'at how unconditionally the (Ratzinger) family opposed the Nazis from the very beginning'. An historian, and he is surprised at that! Where has he been? Perhaps he just means that he expects a large proportion of his German readerhip to be surprised. If that's the case then this book is very necessary and timely. It is touching that Georg Ratzinger decided to help toward the success of his brother's visit by putting a few facts straight.
What WILL interest a wider international audience are the personal memories of the Ratzinger brothers' childhood and youth. There are bound to be some things in that area that have not been revealed before. Also one hopes that among the book's forty photographs there will be some that have not been published before. The publisher, Herbig of Munich, has not announced any plans to publish in other languages, at least not as far as I was able to discover during a fairly lengthy search this morning. They really will miss a best seller if they do not get on quickly with the sale of foreign rights. I hope Father Fessio of Ignatius Press will take a hand here!
(The German version can be pre-ordered at amazon.fr. I was surprised that amazon.co.uk does not yet have this facility.)
5 comments:
Off topic Jane but have you seen the Salon Beige item you linked to today? What is happening to the church in Belgium? A priest there has said that other priests will be welcome to concelebrate with a French protestant lady pastor in the 'Cene du Seigneur' to celebrate his own 60 years as a priest and 85th birthday.
Pelerin:
Yes, I've seen it. Also on Rorate, and have spent the last hour trying to formulate a post about it. Grim stuff. Decided to wait until tomorrow and see what comes up from other blogs. This old priest says he's concerned about the unity of Christians. As a Catholic, I don't think he's going about it in the right way, and I don't think you will either. After all, with this invitation, he is inviting other priests to excommunicate themselves.
Are you going to Lourdes for the Assumption?Will email.
Love,
J
I've just had a look at Rorate and the 19 comments there. There is one saying 'Oh dear more knee time' which says it all.
Yes all being well shall be there on Friday. I won't be able to do much 'active participation' but will be able to identify far more with the 'malades' this time.
PS According to Osservatore 'l'eveque est au courant.'
Pir!
Will email later today.
J
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