Tuesday November 21, 10:50 PM
Pope Benedict XVI has put the finishing touches on the first volume
of a work titled "Jesus of Nazareth" that will hit the bookstores
in the spring, the Vatican has said.
The pope "has finished editing the first part of the book, entitled
'Jesus of Nazareth', and returned it a few days ago to the Vatican
publishing service," the Vatican said in a statement.
It added that the Italian publishing house Rizzoli was engaged to
edit and print the work, to be published in spring 2007, for the
Vatican.
The first of two volumes covers the period between Jesus's baptism
in the River Jordan to the Transfiguration in 10 chapters.
The 70-year-old Benedict, a respected theologian, explains in the
preface that the first volume would be published even though he has
not begun writing the second volume, which will depend on "the time
and strength available" to him.
He says he began writing the book in the summer of 2003 when he was
still Cardinal Ratzinger and that he has continued work on it
during "all (his) free time" since being elected pope in April
2005.
"This book is absolutely not a master's thesis but merely the
expression of my personal research into the face of the Lord," the
pope warns.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a written note to the
media that the book "is not an encyclical, which means that it can
be freely discussed and criticized."
Benedict has taken into account the most recent research on Jesus
to explain how the historical person and the Jesus of the Christian
faith are combined in the same figure, Lombardi said.