Reviews for The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church

The average rating for The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-08-16 00:00:00 John Hubaj I bought a cheap copy of this book after seeing it on a friend's shelf. I have great respect for John Allen as a journalist. He is one of a handful of journalists (Stuart Taylor is another who comes to mind) who really work hard to get the story right. The book is divided into three parts. First, is a section dealing with the decline and death -- the last days -- of Pope John Paul II. The second deals with the lead up to and the actual conclave. The third gives a short biography of Benedict and predictions for the future. The first two sections are by far the strongest. The third has some weaknesses, partly because this papacy is five years old. The background on the run up to the conclave and the actual internal deliberations is very interesting. It is fascinating to see how Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, something he didn't expect and most certainly did not want. The central themes behind his election are these: 1) Cardinal Ratzinger was a very known commodity and a well-liked one. The Cardinal-electors had met with him over dozens of years on their visits to Rome and despite the many negative portrayals of Ratzinger in the press, he was always someone who listened and had done his homework; 2) Ratzinger was a man among boys in the College of Cardinals. That is not to say there aren't other smart or good men among the Cardinals, but Ratzinger's intellect towered above the rest of the group; 3) Ratzinger handled the pre-conclave period with incredible grace; he was available and listened to his brother cardinals, he showed incredible understanding and interest in the problems faced by others, especially those in the global south; 4) Ratzinger's age was actually a help, rather than a hindrance; the cardinals didn't want a long 20+ year pontificate to follow JPII's lengthy reign; 5)Ratzinger has considerable skills and gifts to face what many of the cardinals think is the greatest challenge to the Church now, namely the secularism of the West. As for the third part, it is surprising how many of Allen's predictions seem to be occurring, though the hoped for reform of the Curia is taking a different tack and pace from which Allen and others would have anticipated. My one complaint about the book is that Allen, while having gotten better at this, still employs too easily political categories to describe realities in the Church. Partly, this is because he knows his readers use these categories to think these things through, but I think it also reflects some of the old-John Allen tendencies (see here). Nevertheless, I highly recommend this book though it might be better to check it out at the library or buy it used because it is dated.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-04-26 00:00:00 John Joseph Mcenery John L Allen, Jr. is a correspondent for the National Catholic Report and Vatican analyst for CNN and National Public Radio. He draws on his interviews and experience in reporting on the Catholic Church to tell the story of how Joe Ratzinger was elected to the papacy in April 2005 and became Pope Benedict XVI. I chose to read this book because of my desire to try to learn more about our current pope. I was disappointed. The book is not a chronological telling of Pope Benedict XVI's life and the first third of the book is devoted to a summary of Pope John Paul II's papacy and his final days, funeral and the papal election. There seemed to be a lot of the author interjecting himself into the story - "I was reporting on this" and "I was there to report on this" and "I was there to report on that", etc. I felt he brought forth good reasons as to why the College of Cardinals would choose him, but I didn't feel I'd learned more about the Pope himself. At one point, he says something to the effect that he could into the details about some event or writing, but says he won't because that information is "common knowledge." I had no idea what he was talking about - perhaps it was something he'd written about earlier. If you are looking to learn more about Pope Benedict XVI - I don't' think this is the book you want to read. If you are looking for an apologist for Pope Benedict XVI - this is your book.