Tuesday, 25 March 2025

10 Things Pope Benedict Wants You To Know - John L. Allen Jr. - CTS Books

10 Things Pope Benedict Wants You to Know
ISBN 9781860824616
CTS Booklet DO767

10 Things Pope Benedict Wants You To Know - John L. Allen Jr. - CTS Books

ISBN 9780764816727
eISBN 9780764865138
ASIN B079567T8K

10 Things Pope Benedict Wants You To Know - John L. Allen Jr. - Liguori

Over the last few years, I have read several of books by and about Pope Benedict XVI, many from the Catholic Truth Society. Of the popes in my lifetime, I find his writings of immense spiritual benefit. I would state that I underappreciated him until his resignation. And since then, I have read much. And with each piece I read I appreciate his wisdom, faith, and stand against modernism. And nearly every time I finish one, I find another I want to read. This one was mentioned at the end of a previous booklet, I had never heard of it. I tracked down a used out-of-print CTS edition but it was damaged and missing pages. So I picked up the Liguori edition and finished it with the eBook from them. This was another excellent read, it is about Benedict XVI’s thoughts and teachings. It is a wonderful little read. 

The descriptions of the book is:

“As leader of the world's largest Christian denomination, Pope Benedict wants modern men and women to recognize the teachings of the Catholic faith with new eyes. He wants us to look "back to the basics" but in an intelligent, provocative and attractive fashion. For the pope, Christianity is not merely a set of rules and prohibitions, but a resounding "yes" to human dignity and the embrace of a loving God.

In this concise piece, well-known Vatican inside observer John Allen, Jr. shares his observations on the ten most important things he believes Pope Benedict XVI wants all Catholics to know. The basis for his conjectures comes not from Allen's own personal perspectives, but from the writings and speeches of the Holy Father.”

The chapters in this volume are:

 Introduction
 1 God Is Love
 2 Jesus Is Lord
 3 Truth and Freedom Are Two Sides of the Same Coin
 4 Faith and Reason Need One Another
 5 The Eucharist Is the Heart of the Christian Life
 6 Christianity Is a Positive Message
 7 The Church Forms Consciences but Stays Out of Politics
 8 The Importance of Catholic Identity
 9 Christ and the Church Are Inseparable
10 The Virtue of Patience

I highlighted numerous passages while reading this booklet, and could have easily doubled the number. Here are some of them:

“THOUGH POPE BENEDICT XVI is one of the most accomplished Roman Catholic theologians of his era, the aim of his pontificate is not the construction of a new “grand theory” for Catholic theology. Neither is his goal to remake the Catholic Church according to the personal tastes and inclinations of Joseph Ratzinger.”

“Benedict’s top priority is to reintroduce the fundamentals of the Christian gospel and of Catholic tradition to the modern world, striving to illustrate their coherence with the deepest truths of human existence.”

“You won’t find a lot of complicated theological concepts or breathtaking new ideas, for Benedict isn’t interested in pushing the envelope of theological discussion. What’s creative about him is, rather, the fresh way he explains core Christian teachings.”

“Eros must be transformed through “a path of ascent, renunciation, purification and healing” into agape, meaning the complete gift of oneself for another.”

“Benedict wants to assure his readers that the gospels are reliable witnesses to Jesus. They teach us that the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith are one and the same figure: the Living Son of God, made flesh. Placing Christ at the center is Benedict’s modus operandi, and proper “Christology,” meaning teaching about Christ, is the dominant doctrinal concern of his papacy.”

“There can be no humane social order or lasting moral progress, he says, apart from a right relationship with God, and it is Jesus Christ who reveals God’s face to us.”

“Preaching Christ is not a distraction, he believes, from building a better world—it is building a better world.”

“Benedict realizes that many people unconsciously endorse this “dictatorship of relativism” because they want to be free, meaning that they don’t want to live on the basis of someone else’s truths.”

“Real freedom does not mean freedom to exploit the poor, to hate one’s neighbor, or to sacrifice unborn life; it means the freedom to realize our highest potential as sons and daughters of God.”

“Truth, for Benedict XVI, is the doorway through which one must walk in order to be “free” in the fullest sense of the word.”

“Benedict’s desire is to lead contemporary Catholics back to the fundamentals of our faith, to remind us of that deep “yes” that lies beneath our specific “no’s” on hot-button cultural debates.”

“In other words, the pope wants Christians to let the “good news” of their faith shine through their own lives, so that its inner beauty can again become clear in a world accustomed to thinking of Christianity as little more than a fussy legal system. That doesn’t make the law less important or valid, but Benedict realizes that one doesn’t stir hearts with law, but with love.”

“IN A MARCH 20, 2007, address to Italian businesspeople, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican’s Secretary of State and a longtime intimate of Pope Benedict XVI, said that the “overall goal” of Benedict’s papacy is to defend authentic Christian identity in a world marked by religious relativism.”

“Benedict worries, in too many areas the Catholic Church has gradually assimilated to this ethos, absorbing its worldview like secondhand smoke. The result is that some Catholics, and some Catholic institutions, are shaped more by the values of secular modernity than the tradition of the Church.”

I hope those quotes give you a feel for this volume. It is an excellent little read an primer on the thought and teachings of Pope Benedict XVI. I can’t help but wonder if Allen were to update this volume, especially now as all of Pope Benedict’s works are being released in English if he would pick the same 10 or expand the list to 15.

This volume was an excellent little volume and easy to engage with. If you have not read much by Benedict XVI you will come away with a list of items to read. It is well worth a read. Another excellent volume based on the writings and teachings of Pope Benedict. I can easily recommend it.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.


Books by Benedict XVI:
Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church and Church Fathers 
10 Things Pope Benedict Wants You To Know - John L. Allen Jr. - Liguori  
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