Pope Benedict’s writings helped many ‘relate’ to Christ

Pope Benedict XVI announced in mid-February that he planned to resign Feb. 28 after eight years leading the Roman Catholic Church.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” the pope told cardinals gathered for a meeting to approve the canonization of new saints.

Elected in April 2005, Pope Benedict is the first pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII did so in 1415. 
Pope Benedict said he was making his decision “with full freedom.” 

The dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, is responsible to make preparations for a conclave to elect a new pope.

Born as Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict will dedicate his time to prayer and reflection upon his resignation, and will likely continue his writing, a Vatican spokesman said.

Daniel Kroger, Franciscan Media CEO and publisher, didn’t expect the pope’s resignation to have a major impact on what Catholic publishers publish.

“The obvious thing is that the resignation will create a window of opportunity for the Catholic press to explain that any pope may resign,” Kroger said. “In Benedict’s case, he seems to be following his own realization that he cannot function adequately to handle the Petrine ministry due to his failing health.”

Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press, one of Pope Benedict’s publishers, said: “If anything, people will continue to be interested in Pope Benedict’s writings, as they are John Paul II’s. But we’ll have a new pope, with writings of his own. That will increase interest in Catholic publishing.”

“Pope Benedict XVI, like his predecessor Blessed John Paul II, is a gifted, thoughtful pastoral and academic thinker,” said Therese Brown, executive director of the Association of Catholic Publishers. “His writing has influenced the way many people understand and relate to Jesus Christ through his powerful, multi-volume work on our Lord. His pastoral writings as the shepherd of the Catholic church have drawn the attention of many who might otherwise not have listened or heard the good news. 

“The work that the Holy Father began long before he was elevated to the papacy has continued through these years, and we would expect him to keep on writing and publishing as long as he is able,” she added. 

Gregory Erlandson, president of Our Sunday Visitor, publisher of many of the pope’s books and exclusive North America distributor of the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, called Pope Benedict a “great gift” for the church.

“He continued and made a centerpiece of his pontificate the New Evangelization first proclaimed by John Paul II,” Erlandson said. “He saw clearly that the church itself needed to be reinvigorated and renewed, and it was in this spirit that he assembled the recent synod of bishops in October. At the same time, he has been a great theologian pope, and he had his own agenda.” 

His pontificate will “be remembered for his writings, particularly his books on Jesus of Nazareth. He wrote with great intellectual and stylistic clarity, which made him one of the most accessible and widely read popes of the last century.”

The final volume in his international best-selling “Jesus of Nazareth” series is an exploration of the infancy and early life of Jesus. It was released in December by Image Books, the Catholic imprint of Crown Publishing Group at Random House.

Chris Weickert, director of the Catholic Retailers Association, expects some top sellers because of the transition.

“In the near term, it will likely promote greater interest in the writings of Pope Benedict, but as the conclave meets and selects a new pope, the attention will immediately turn toward that individual and any writings of his,” Weickert said. “Catholic retailers experienced this when Pope Benedict, who had written many books became pope. Those books immediately became top sellers as people sought to know his thinking and theology better.”

• Prev
• Next