Pope Benedict’s first book to be on store shelves in two weeks

Vatican City, Apr 4, 2007 / 09:17 am

The Vatican announced this morning that on Friday, April 13th, Pope Benedict XVI’s first book will be released with a press conference.  The book, titled “Jesus of Nazareth,” is certainly not the first written by the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, but the first released by him after his taking his seat on the Chair of Peter.

Starting on Monday, April 16th, which is also the Pope’s birthday, the book will be available in its Italian, German, and Polish editions. The English, Spanish, and French versions are expected to follow soon after.

The book is said to be the first of a two part series on Pope Benedict’s personal reflection about the life of Jesus Christ.  According to an excerpt published in Italian daily, “Corriere della Sera,” the book also touches on current troubles in the world.    The book reportedly contains an implicit appeal to the developed world to do more to help Africa, both materially and spiritually.

Benedict says Africa is a symbol of the "wounds" created by "the cynicism of a world without God, in which only power and profit count.”

"Yes, we must provide material help and we must look at our way of life. But we give too little if we give only material things.”

However, according to several sources including hints from the Pope himself, the book is primarily a historical and theological presentation of the figure at the center of Christianity, which draws on hundreds of works of modern research into the figure of Jesus Christ.

It consists of 10 chapters covering the life of Jesus from his baptism in the River Jordan to the 'transfiguration', when the Bible says his appearance changed and revealed his divine nature to his watching disciples.