Last Testament

Bol

'Gripping ... An exquisite conversation between two people who know each other, like each other, and have mutual respect for one another' - Catholic TimesSince resigning from the papacy in 2013, the first Pope in over 700 years to do so, Pope Benedict has lived quietly in a convent in the Vatican gardens in Rome. He has devoted himself to a life of prayer and study and has vowed to remain silent, until now. So much controversy still surrounds Pope Benedict’s time in office – in this book, written with bestselling German author Peter Seewald, he addresses the issues of his papacy and reveals how, at his late age, governing and reforming the Church was beyond him.Last Testament is also an autobiography, recalling Pope Benedict’s childhood in Germany under Nazism, his early development as a priest, and eventually his appointment as Archbishop of Munich. After becoming Pope, his account deals with the controversies that rocked the Catholic world – how he enraged Muslims with his Regensburg speech, what he did and did not do to stamp out the clerical sexual abuse of children, the ‘Vatileaks’ scandal and how he broke up a gay cabal within the Vatican itself. At all times, we see a man who is shy and retiring and modest being exceptionally open and frank with the outside world. In this Last Testament, a unique book insofar as no other living Pope has had the opportunity to write an account having left office, Benedict gives in his own words an unprecedented view of the difficulties, the achievements and the consequences of his time as head of the Catholic Church worldwide.

Bol Partner

Pope Benedict made history by being the first Pope in over a thousand years to resign from office. The Catholic Church the world over was stunned. Faced with the internecine warfare in the Vatican, by accusations of corruption in the Church and by a seemingly endless series of clerical sex scandals he decided that the resolution of all these problems was outside his power for a man of his age. In this most touching and revealing book, the author speaks with disarming honesty and humility of his inner life, his life of prayer and his firm belief in God. But he also addresses all the causes celebres which impacted his pontificate, including the Vatileaks scandal, readmitting a holocaust denier to full communion with the Church, his arguably misunderstood Regensburg speech which upset Muslims, his childhood in Nazi Germany. On a more personal level he writes with great warmth of his successor Pope Francis and writes beautifully of his love of Mozart. This book comes as a final and fitting sequel to his previous works on Jesus of Nazareth.