Pope Benedict XVI has handed his editors the final draft of the second volume of his book, "Jesus of Nazareth," but it will be months before the work is translated from German and published, the Vatican said May 10."This second volume is dedicated to the Passion and the Resurrection, and takes up where the first volume ended," the Vatican press office said in a statement.
The first volume of the work was published in the spring of 2007 and covered Jesus' life from his baptism to his transfiguration.
In the United States, the English translation was published by Doubleday.
The Vatican publishing house will be the principal editor, will find publishers in different countries and will coordinate the translation work, the Vatican statement said.
The Vatican said it hopes to release the book simultaneously in the world's major languages, which means it might be "several months" before it gets to bookstores.
The first volume, which ran more than 400 pages, highlighted what the Bible says about Jesus, what the moral implications of his teachings are and how reading the Scriptures can lead to a real relationship with Jesus.
SIC: CNS