The Making of the Pope 2005

Editorial Review

From the author of the classic The Making of the Popes 1978 comes this singularly perceptive analysis of the events and political forces in the Catholic Church that led to the selection of Pope Benedict XVI—and what this choice means for Catholics today.

  The 2005 conclave offered a ripe opportunity for change. After twenty-six years under the leadership of the charismatic, socially conservative John Paul II, the Church was at a crossroads: American Catholics were increasingly dismissive of papal authority; Europe, according to the Vatican, was growing more and more secular; the largely conservative Catholics of the Third World appeared to be the Church’s future. The College of Cardinals faced a daunting task in selecting the next pope from a list of potential candidates that ran as high as twenty just weeks before the conclave. What led them to the controversial choice of Cardinal Ratzinger?

  Sociologist, storyteller, journalist, and above all priest (for fifty one years), Father Andrew Greeley has used the skills of all his roles to write not only a sequel to his bestselling chronicle of the last two conclaves but an analysis of the crises, the confusion, the conflicts and the alienation that have beset Catholicism since the Second Vatican Council destabilized the Church. His diary of the 2005 conclave is not only a description of how Cardinal Ratzinger became Benedict XVI, but a meditation on the "remaking of the Church." With controlled passion he argues that the most serious problem is neither authority nor differences in sexual attitudes but the breakdown of communication at every level in the Church. To keep the faith alive and the worldwide community of Catholics intact, the Church’s leadership must admit that it doesn’t have all the answers and instead listen to the Holy Spirit, present everywhere in the Church. The solution to the current crisis, Greeley argues, is not the change of doctrine but the opening of communication links that will not only enable listening but will require it.

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 Benedict XVI became Pope because his fellow Cardinals viewed him as a man who would assure stability and continuity after the slow decline of his predecessor. At seventy-eight and in poor health, he himself said that it would not be a long papacy. Nonetheless he has ambitious plans for renewing faith in Europe and around the world. In The Making of the Pope 2005, Father Greeley explains why the new Pope’s success will depend first and foremost on his ability to listen.

• Hardcover: 288 pages

• Publisher: Little, Brown (September 28, 2005)

• Language: English

• ISBN: 0316325600

• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.0 inches