A pope, by definition, stands for certainty, at times even infallibility. So a few words from Benedict XVI in the first book of his two-year papacy may come as a surprise.
"Anyone is free to contradict me," he wrote in the preface to the book Jesus of Nazareth, which will officially be released tomorrow, his 80th birthday. The book makes no claims of speaking officially for the Roman Catholic Church, he wrote, but rather expresses his "personal search for the face of the Lord."
The cover even puts his given name, Joseph Ratzinger, before the one he chose when he became pope.
A book by any pope -- especially one both praised and criticized for his strong views as a cardinal and doctrinal chief to John Paul II -- is unlikely to be read as simply a personal musing.
In fact, some church experts said, the pope's decision to write personally was aimed at reclaiming his vision of Jesus as the divine son of God rather than as a symbol or mere historical figure. He also hopes to reach beyond Europe, where the church claims ever fewer believers.
"It is a way for Benedict XVI to reach an audience that is as vast as possible, without an intermediary," said Sandro Magister, a writer for L'Espresso magazine and one of Italy's leading Vatican specialists. "He writes, and they go out and buy it. Almost like a personal dialogue."
"It is not a marginal book, but rather very central to this papacy," Magister added. "He wanted to select this argument because it is absolutely central."
The book, the first of two volumes, may generate all the more interest as it is his only lengthy publication as pope, apart from one encyclical, the highest form of church teaching. Before becoming pope, Ratzinger, one of the church's leading theologians, wrote many books and he remains a prolific writer of speeches and homilies.
His publishers seem to have high hopes: Tomorrow, the book will appear in his native German, as well as in Polish and Italian. Rizzoli, which is publishing the Italian edition, has scheduled a first printing run of 350,000 copies. Doubleday, which will publish the book in the US on May 15 and has also published books by John Paul II and John XXIII, will print 200,000 copies. The book is being translated into 20 languages.
On Friday, the Vatican played host to a gala book presentation and news conference that was packed with cardinals and Italian officials like Giulio Andreotti, a seven-time prime minister.
But while few had time to read through the book's 400 pages -- released to the news media and dignitaries only on Friday morning -- there was some muted criticism that the pope's book has taken attention away from other church business.
"If you are in the position to govern, then govern; if you are a writer, then write," one of Italy's top Vatican scholars said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of his close ties to the Church and because he had not yet read the book. "But the idea of a sovereign that also writes complicates things because this is not an official act."
In fact, Ratzinger started the book before he became pope. He says in the preface that he began writing it in 2003 on his summer vacation, when he was still in charge of church doctrine. Since becoming pope, he said: "I used all of my free moments to carry the project forward."
His intention, he said, was to foster an "intimate friendship" with Jesus in an effort to restore what he believes to be Jesus' most significant role: as the divine son of God.
"I have tried to present the Jesus of the Gospels as the real Jesus, as the historical Jesus in the true sense," he wrote. "Yes, it really happened. Jesus is not a myth. He is a man made of flesh and blood, a totally real presence in history."
The book seemed in part to be aimed at refuting accounts of Jesus like that in The Da Vinci Code, which presented him as a mortal who married and stressing his divine role rather than that of a social reformer.
But despite the pope's past battles against liberation theology, he does portray social justice as central to Jesus' message.
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