The Pope's Intentions

Most Irish Roman Catholic children, particularly during the years preceding the Second Vatican Council, will remember being urged by parents, teachers and priests, at the end of their daily or nightly prayers, to add a special prayer for the "Pope's intentions".  In the days before instant mass communication, one wasn't always quite clear, except in some vaguely, pious way, what those intentions were.  That is not the case with the present occupant of the Chair of Peter.
 
Unlike his four immediate predecessors, Karol Wotyla (Pope John Paul 11), Albino Luciani (Pope John Paul I), Giovanni Battista Montini (Pope Paul VI) or, indeed, Angelo Roncalli (Pope John XXIII), Pope Benedict XVI was well known to many ordinary Catholics while still a Cardinal and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was a formidable name which appeared frequently in news reports and could strike terror into the hearts of errant theologians, and his election to the highest office in the Catholic Church was greeted with mixed reactions.  He wielded a prolific pen, which helps us to understand his way of thinking even before he had become established as Pope.

This four part series, presented and produced by Gerry McArdle, aims to examine topics identified by the former Cardinal Ratzinger as areas of concern, not only to himself, but to the vast organisation for which he is now responsible. 

"The Pope's Intentions" could be seen, primarily, as a series for and about Roman Catholics. With the Papacy, however, occupying such a prestigious place in world opinion at the moment, the issues examined are issues which will interest all people of good will.

THE POPE'S INTENTIONS - READING LIST.
. God and the World.  Peter Seewald (in conversation with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger). IGNATIUS PRESS.
. The Stripping of the Altars. Eamon Duffy. YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
. Milestones.  Joseph Ratzinger. IGNATIUS PRESS.
. The Thought of Benedict XVI. Aidan Nichols OP. burns and oates.
. The Ratzinger Report. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger with Vittorio Messori.  IGNATIUS PRESS.
. The Spirit of the Liturgy. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.  IGNATIUS PRESS.
. Pope Benedict XVI, Successor to Peter. Michael Collins. Columba Press.
. The Rise of Benedict XVI. John L. Allen.   Penguin.
. Deus Caritas Est. Encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI.
. The Encyclopaedia of Catholicism. Edited by Richard McBrien.    Harper Collins.

Information on the series

Information on, and audio links to, all the programmes in the series.