Description
Book SynopsisIt is no accident that Benedict XVI. chose the Pope''s name Benedict. A look at its predecessor of the same name enables a walk through the entire history of the Pope. Josef Ratzinger, welcomed euphorically as the German Pope in 2005, but then voluntarily resigned in 2013, had 18 predecessors of the same name (including three counter-popes). Viewing them enables a walk through the entire history of the Pope since late antiquity with all its ups and downs. The pontificate of Benedict XVI. stood under the overpowering shadow of his predecessor John Paul II. He could not solve the problems that left him. The choice of name opens the view to the 18 popes before him, who also bore the name Benedict. Their series encompasses the entire history of the Church over the past 1,500 years. Using the living example of often idiosyncratic personalities, it shows the constancy and change in the role of the Pope in church and politics.
