Word on Fire to publish Pope Benedict XVI’s collected works in English

National Catholic Register, Oct 25, 2024 / 14:20 pm

Bishop Robert Barron’s media company Word on Fire plans to publish in English more than two dozen volumes of the collected works of Joseph Ratzinger from before and during the time he served as Pope Benedict XVI, including titles currently not available except in his native German.

The project, which will include books and academic articles, will require a small army of translators and editors under the direction of Tracey Rowland, an Australian theologian who has written two books about the late pope’s thought and who won the Ratzinger Prize for theology in 2020.

The new series will appeal to “all Catholics around the world who are interested in uniting faith and reason,” Rowland told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, in a telephone interview.

She also identified priests, seminarians, and theology students as a likely audience along with Protestants who are interested in the late pope’s analysis of Scripture and Christology.

Rowland touted Ratzinger’s approachable style, dealing with sophisticated subjects in simple language.

“He is easy to read for people who are not professional theologians,” Rowland said. “I think he always wrote with a pastoral objective in mind. He was always writing to help people understand something.”

Organizers of the project envision 25 volumes appearing in English at a hoped-for rate of about two per year over a dozen years or more, starting in late 2025 with the “Jesus of Nazareth” trilogy.

During his lifetime, Ratzinger worked with Ignatius Press, which published English translations of some of his books, including “Introduction to Christianity” and “The Spirit of the Liturgy,” among many others.

Mark Brumley, the editor of Ignatius Press, told the Register that Ignatius is sublicensing the rights to Ratzinger’s titles to Word on Fire to produce the new English-language version of the “Collected Works of Joseph Ratzinger” and that Ignatius is happy to be working with Barron’s publishing arm.

Jason Paone, editor of Word on Fire Academic, told the Register the new series will make more of the late pontiff’s work accessible to a larger audience.

“It’s important for a number of reasons. Joseph Ratzinger is one of the most preeminent theologians of all time. He wrote theology like a philosopher. Sometimes he wrote philosophy like a theologian. He’s also one of the most important Church leaders. He’s a really important figure in the reception and interpretation of Vatican II,” Paone said.

“He has interpreted the council and implemented it and brought the Church into a new modern form that still respects the tradition of it,” Paone said. “He has a tremendous respect for the tradition of the Church but he’s also not afraid to engage with the modern world.”

Ratzinger (1927–2022) served as pope from 2005 to 2013, when he resigned. He was a professor of theology in his native Germany when Pope Paul VI named him archbishop of Munich and Freising and made him a cardinal in 1977. In 1981 Pope John Paul II, now a canonized saint, named him head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He served in that role until succeeding John Paul in the chair of Peter.

Admirers think Ratzinger should be canonized a saint, and some have called for him to be named a doctor of the Church.

“Usually Church doctors are people who solve some theological crisis in the life of the Church,” Rowland said. “I think what the works of Joseph Ratzinger give us is a kind of master class in fundamental theology, and for that reason, I think he does merit the title Church doctor.”

She compared him to St. John Henry Newman (1801–1890), an English convert to Catholicism whose works are studied by Catholic theologians to help better understand the faith.

“I think in the years ahead Ratzinger studies will become even more important, because I think people are realizing that Ratzinger wasn’t just a pope but was one of the greatest Catholic scholars of the last two centuries,” Rowland said.

This article was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.