Book summary

In this interview from the mid-1980s with Italian journalist Vittorio Messori, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger discusses at length the issues confronting the Catholic Church, many of which center around tradition vs. modernity. One of the recurring topics is the Second Vatican Council, which was called by Pope John XXIII, viewed by many Catholics as a very welcome opening up of the church and by others as a horribly wrong turn. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger attended the council as a young priest and theologian, and was reportedly a progressive voice. Years later, while neither simplistically repudiating nor endorsing the council, Cardinal Ratzinger clearly interprets and sets right the teachings of Vatican II as he sees them in his authoritative position as head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. As such, then, Ratzinger's views in this interview stand as a comment on the state of the church in 1985 and a message of what, from Vatican II, still needs to be realized. Elevated to pope in 2005, John Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI will address the same issues he spoke of in 1985 in THE RATZINGER REPORT.