The diminishing returns of the papal book genre

Catholic Herald, 23 January 2020

Papal communications were revolutionized by Ratzinger-Benedict. The effects of which are selectively observed today.

Benedict XVI made waves with a book last week, as he did 35 years ago with The Ratzinger Report, changing papal communication in the late 20th century. But such extracurricular papal publications may have now run their course.

In 1985, The Ratzinger Report, an interview book with Vittorio Messori, single-handedly redefined the parameters of debate about the post-conciliar period. That autumn, as the extraordinary synod on the reception of Vatican II was convoked in Rome, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, exasperated at how Ratzinger’s call for “restoration” had dominated the pre-synod conversations, protested: “This is a synod about a Council, not a book!”

The book had an enormous impact. The idea of the doctrinal prefect issuing a book – an interview book, no less – was novel. And it became an international publishing marvel. Ratzinger would do two more interview books, this time with German interlocutor Peter Seewald: Salt of the Earth (1996) and God and the World (2000). He would write two full books in those years, the autobiographical Milestones (1997) and his mature reflections on the topic most dear to him, The Spirit of the Liturgy (2000).

This non-magisterial publishing as prefect had an impact on the papacy of St John Paul II. While John Paul had granted a long interview to the French journalist André Frossard which was published as Be Not Afraid (1982), it was Crossing the Threshold of Hope (1994) that exploded the categories of papal communication. It sold millions of copies worldwide and was translated into 40 languages.

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