Pope Benedict has made a call for vigilance in his latest book
that will have particular resonance in the context of the clerical sex
abuse that was widely ignored in his church.
Reflecting on Jesus's
admonition to his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane to "remain
here, and watch", the pope says "it also points ahead to the later
history of Christianity".
"Across
the centuries, it is the drowsiness of the disciples that opens up
possibilities for the power of the Evil One. Such drowsiness deadens the
soul, so that it remains undisturbed by the power of the Evil One at
work in the world and by all the injustice and suffering ravaging the
earth."
The book, Jesus of Nazareth. Holy Week. From the Entrance
into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, is the second part of a projected
three-volume work on the founder of Christianity.
The pope clearly
regards it as the most important: he describes it in the foreword as
being devoted to "the decisive sayings and events of Jesus's life".
It has an opening print run of 1.2m copies and is translated into seven languages.
Extracts released before Thursday's publication, revealed that the book includes a detailed refutation of the idea that the Jews were collectively responsible for the death of Jesus.
That view was disowned by the Roman Catholic church in 1965, but this
is thought to be the first time a pope has assailed the idea in such a
comprehensive manner.
Giuseppe Costa, the director of the
Vatican's publishing house, told the papal daily, L'Osservatore Romano,
that the pope's latest book on Jesus had attracted more interest than
the first, published in 2007.
He said deals had been signed with 22
publishers around the world and "we are still in negotiation with
others".
One of the aims of the series is to close the gap that
modern theological scholarship has opened between the Jesus of the
gospels, often termed the "Christ of Faith", and the historical Jesus
who lived and died in Roman Palestine.
"The New Testament message
is not simply an idea," the pope writes. "Essential to it is the fact
that these events actually occurred in the history of this world:
biblical faith does not recount stories as symbols of meta-historical
truths; rather, it bases itself upon history that unfolded upon this
earth."
In support of his views, the German professor-pontiff
draws on a deep well of scholarship.
Perhaps only Benedict among recent
popes could refer blithely to the "parallelism typical of Hebrew
poetry".
His sources range from the third-century ecclesiastic St
Cyprian of Carthage to the 20th century French chronologist Annie
Jaubert and from Blaise Pascal to Karl Marx.
Though a
traditionalist in many respects, the former Joseph Ratzinger is happy to
accept the overturning of long-held assumptions when the evidence
against them is convincing.
He is clear, for example, that the two
"robbers" crucified with Jesus were Jewish "resistance fighters" who
were executed by the Romans for sedition.
But he is equally
adamant in dismissing the idea that Jesus himself was a political
revolutionary, as asserted by liberation theologians. "Jesus's whole
ministry and his message … point in a radically different direction,"
the pope argues.
Giuseppe Costa said the pope had written the book
entirely in pencil in his "unmistakably tiny handwriting" and that the
manuscript had been typed into a computer by an assistant, Birgit
Wansing.
In the preface, the 83-year-old Benedict says he intends
rounding off the series with a "small monologue" on the gospel infancy
narratives, but only "if I am given the strength".