The Ratzinger Report

The Ratzinger Report

Book cover
Author	Joseph Ratzinger
Original title	Rapporto Sulla Fede
Translator	Salvator Attanasio Graham Harrison
Language	English
Genre	Religion
Publisher	Ignatius Press
Publication date	1985
Pages	197
ISBN	978-0-89870-080-0

The Ratzinger Report (Italian: Rapporto Sulla Fede) is a 1985 book consisting of a series of interviews collected over several days given by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the Italian journalist Vittorio Messori. The book focuses on the state of the Roman Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council. The book is very critical of the "hermeneutic of rupture" associated with the liberal "spirit of Vatican II" within the Church. It has often been reread in the context of the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI in order to better understand the mind and the thinking of the former pontiff.^[1][2]

Topics

• The true Spirit and letter of Vatican II
• The Church as God's Church, not the laity Church
• The nature of the priesthood
• The papacy, the episcopacy, and the role of bishops' conferences.
• Liberalism, relativism and the permissiveness of modern society
• The role of women
• Six reasons not to forget the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Spirituality for today
• The dignity of the liturgy, the eucharist as the heart of faith, and the difference between solemnity and triumphalism
• The devil, the angels, purgatory, and limbo
• Ecumenism and Christian unity
• Liberation theology, Marxism and capitalism
• Evangelization and why Jesus is the only Savior

References

Citations

1. Komonchak, Joseph A. (December 22, 1985). "At the Pope's Right Hand". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
2. Greenwich, Andrew (May 1988). "Cardinal Ratzinger: defender of the Faith". AD2000. Retrieved 20 February 2012.

Bibliography

• The Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1985. ISBN 978-0-89870-080-0.

External links

• The Ratzinger Report (Google Books)
• The Ratzinger Report (Ignatius Press)