Päpste

Who is Robert Prevost, the man who is now Leo XIV?What personal traits led him to be chosen as pontiff at a time when the Catholic Church was debating whether to continue the legacy of Francis I or roll back the reforms advanced by him? How did he rise as pope in an overwhelmingly majority vote and what could it mean?Elise Ann Allen, correspondent in Rome for Crux, the prestigious website specialising in Vatican news, outlines a detailed and intimate profile of the new pope. From his childhood in Chicago and his early vocation as an Augustinian to his years as a missionary in Peru and his key role in the Vatican as head of the bishops, Allen reveals the experiences that forged his character and established him as a spiritual leader and citizen of the world.Including the first interview that Leo XIV officially granted as pope, this biography is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the new pope, his priorities, convictions and vision for the future of the Church.Ebury Vine: The Home Of Christian Living. Drawing on the deep roots of Christianity to cultivate curious minds and inspire faith-informed growth.

THE GLOBAL BESTSELLER<BR><BR>The groundbreaking, intimate and inspiring memoir from Pope Francis.<BR><BR>Books of the Year 2025: The Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Financial Times, New Statesman<BR><BR>'Remarkable' Guardian <BR><BR>'Elegant and joyful' Financial Times <BR><BR>Pope Francis originally intended this exceptional memoir to appear only after his death, but the needs of our times and the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope moved him to make this precious legacy available sooner. Now, the book stands as his testament; the spiritual, faith-filled, as well as moral, social, and civic legacy that he envisioned and left for the benefit of all the men and women of the world.<BR><BR>HOPE is the first autobiography in history ever to be published by a Pope. Written over six years, this complete autobiography starts in the early years of the twentieth century, with Pope Francis's Italian roots and his ancestors' courageous migration to Latin America, continuing through his childhood, the enthusiasms and preoccupations of his youth, his vocation, adult life, and the whole of his papacy up to the present day.<BR><BR>In recounting his memories with intimate narrative force (not forgetting his own personal passions), Pope Francis deals unsparingly with some of the crucial moments of his papacy and writes candidly, fearlessly and prophetically about some of the most important and controversial questions of our present times: war and peace (including the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East), migration, environmental crisis, social policy, the position of women, sexuality, technological developments, the future of the Church and of religion in general.<BR><BR>HOPE includes a wealth of revelations, anecdotes and illuminating thoughts. It is a thrilling and very human memoir, moving and sometimes funny, which represents the 'story of a life' and, at the same time, a touching moral and spiritual testament that will fascinate readers throughout the world and will be Pope Francis's legacy of hope for future generations.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pope Francis originally intended this exceptional memoir to appear only after his death, but the needs of our times and the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope moved him to make this precious legacy available sooner. Now, the book stands as his testament; the spiritual, faith-filled, as well as moral, social, and civic legacy that he envisioned and left for the benefit of all the men and women of the world.<BR><BR>“Hope vividly recreates the colorful world where the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio grew up.”—The New York Times<BR><BR>Hope is the first autobiography in history ever to be published by a Pope. Written over six years, this complete autobiography starts in the early years of the twentieth century, with Pope Francis’s Italian roots and his ancestors’ courageous migration to Latin America, continuing through his childhood, the enthusiasms and preoccupations of his youth, his vocation, adult life, and the whole of his papacy up to the present day.<BR><BR>In recounting his memories with intimate narrative force (not forgetting his own personal passions), Pope Francis deals unsparingly with some of the crucial moments of his papacy and writes candidly, fearlessly, and prophetically about some of the most important and controversial questions of our present times: war and peace (including the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East), migration, environmental crisis, social policy, the position of women, sexuality, technological developments, the future of the Church and of religion in general.<BR><BR>Hope includes a wealth of revelations, anecdotes, and illuminating thoughts. It is a thrilling and very human memoir, moving and sometimes funny, which represents the “story of a life” and, at the same time, a touching moral and spiritual testament that will fascinate readers throughout the world and will be Pope Francis’s legacy of hope for future generations.<BR><BR>The book is enhanced by remarkable photographs, including private and unpublished material made personally available by Pope Francis himself.

'Have I succeeded, in my own life? I don't know. I don't think so. I'm in my eighties now and I just don't know. But then, maybe "success" is the wrong way of framing it. You just try, and when you fail, you keep trying.'<BR><BR>Over the course of eight years, Martin Scorsese and Jesuit theologian Antonio Spadaro discussed filmmaking and faith.<BR><BR>From his Catholic upbringing amidst the brutality of 1950s New York to the heights of Hollywood, Scorsese sketches a unique self-portrait. And from Mean Streets to Killers of the Flower Moon - and especially the spiritual reckonings of The Last Temptation of Christ and Silence - he grants readers a new understanding of his films.<BR><BR>Reflecting on grace and violence, fear and hope, passion and belief, these rich and intimate conversations offer a remarkable insight into the director's life and work.

When Robert Francis Prevost OSA appeared on the loggia of St. Peter's on 8th May 2025, he surprised the world. <BR><BR>The first North American pope is a quiet man few had heard of, following the legacy of one the most media savvy pontiffs in history. Yet with subtle gestures, Pope Leo has shown that he is a bridge-builder, a man willing to unite the factions in a deeply divided Church.<BR><BR>In this comprehensive book which joins biography with critical examination of the state of the Church, veteran journalist Christopher R. Altieri explores Prevost's life and work, from his early years in Chicago to his ministry in Peru, and how he came to be chosen as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.<BR><BR>Altieri provides insight into the politics of the 2025 conclave, alongside Pope Leo's choice of papal name, and the major challenges and deep-rooted problems of the Church that he now must run - and all at a time when the world is asking big questions about what it means to be human in a complex ethical world of AI and global conflict.<BR><BR>Through this Pope Leo emerges as a quiet man of true humility, with a track record as an efficient administrator and conciliatory figure, whose background in Canon Law might just offer him the skills needed to govern and reshape the modern Church.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The most important book ever written about the Catholic Church and its conduct during World War II.”—Daniel Silva<BR><BR>“Kertzer brings all of his usual detective and narrative skills to [The Pope at War] . . . the most comprehensive account of the Vatican’s relations to the Nazi and fascist regimes before and during the war.”—The Washington Post<BR><BR>“Tolstoyan.”—Cynthia Ozick<BR><BR> Based on newly opened Vatican archives, a groundbreaking, explosive, and riveting book about Pope Pius XII and his actions during World War II, including how he responded to the Holocaust, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Pope and Mussolini<BR><BR>WINNER OF THE JULIA WARD HOWE AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD • A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR<BR><BR>When Pope Pius XII died in 1958, his papers were sealed in the Vatican Secret Archives, leaving unanswered questions about what he knew and did during World War II. Those questions have only grown and festered, making Pius XII one of the most controversial popes in Church history, especially now as the Vatican prepares to canonize him.<BR><BR>In 2020, Pius XII’s archives were finally opened, and David I. Kertzer—widely recognized as one of the world’s leading Vatican scholars—has been mining this new material ever since, revealing how the pope came to set aside moral leadership in order to preserve his church’s power.<BR><BR>Based on thousands of never-before-seen documents not only from the Vatican, but from archives in Italy, Germany, France, Britain, and the United States, The Pope at War paints a new, dramatic portrait of what the pope did and did not do as war enveloped the continent and as the Nazis began their systematic mass murder of Europe’s Jews. The book clears away the myths and sheer falsehoods surrounding the pope’s actions from 1939 to 1945, showing why the pope repeatedly bent to the wills of Hitler and Mussolini.<BR><BR>Just as Kertzer’s Pulitzer Prize–winning The Pope and Mussolini became the definitive book on Pope Pius XI and the Fascist regime, The Pope at War is destined to become the most influential account of his successor, Pius XII, and his relations with Mussolini and Hitler. Kertzer shows why no full understanding of the course of World War II is complete without knowledge of the dramatic, behind-the-scenes role played by the pope. “This remarkably researched book is replete with revelations that deserve the adjective ‘explosive,’” says Kevin Madigan, Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard University. “The Pope at War is a masterpiece.”

Almost exactly 400 years ago, an English woman completed an astonishing walk to Rome.An English Catholic, Mary Ward had already defied the authorities in England. In 1621 she walked across Europe to ask the Pope to allow her to set up schools for girls. 'There is no such difference between men and women that women may not do great things, ' she said.But Mary's vision of equality between men and women angered the Catholic Church and the Pope threw her into prison. This is a story just waiting to be told!The story shines a refreshingly new light on the popular Tudor/Stuart era. Mary's uncles are the Gunpowder Plotters. Her sponsors are Archdukes, Prince-Archbishops and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In Rome she spars with Pope Urban VIII and the Roman Inquisition, just as they are also dealing with Galileo.As the story sweeps from Yorkshire to Rome, from Vienna and Munich to Prague and back to England, we see Mary dodging pirates in the Channel, witch hunts in Germany and the plague in Italy. We see travellers crossing the Alps, and prisoners writing letters in invisible lemon juice to smuggle them past their gaolers. The settings range from the resplendent courts in Brussels and Munich to the siege of York in the English Civil War. The reader is immersed in seventeenth-century life.

Packend wie ein Thriller: Bestsellerautor Andreas Englisch über den Kampf, den Papst Franziskus unermüdlich führte - gegen die verkrusteten Verhältnisse im Vatikan und für eine neue Kirche'Spiritueller Alzheimer' - diese Diagnose hat zweifellos das Zeug dazu, in die Kirchengeschichte einzugehen. Dass es ein Papst ist, der seiner Kurie diese Form der Demenz attestierte, hat selbst den Kenner des Kirchenstaats Andreas Englisch überrascht. Mit der Weihnachtsansprache 2014 eröffnete Papst Franziskus den Kampf gegen den Teil der Kurie, der ihn seit seiner Wahl mit Spott, Verachtung und arroganter Ablehnung überzieht. Er seinerseits zeiht seine Widersacher des Hochmuts, der Verschwendung und der Niedertracht, nennt sie einen Haufen gottloser Bürokraten, die nur auf Machterhalt aus sind, und wirft ihnen vor, Christus vergessen zu haben und in spiritueller Leere zu leben. Nicht nur die Kardinäle halten den Atem an, die Welt horcht auf. Was hat diese Attacke zu bedeuten? Was gab den Anstoß, und wie wird die Kurie reagieren? Wie ist der Einfluss von Gegnern und Unterstützern des Franziskus-Kurses einzuschätzen? Andreas Englisch analysiert die Lage im Machtzentrum der katholischen Kirche. Eines wird klar: Es geht nicht um vatikaninterne Geplänkel. Franziskus hat den Kampf eröffnet. Und der Ausgang ist völlig offen. Dieses Buch ist explosiv wie die Lage im Vatikan, spannend wie ein Thriller und basiert auf Informationen, über die nur ein intimer Kenner wie Andreas Englisch verfügt.

Hüter einer ewigen Ordnung: So sehen sich die Päpste, deren Institution durch ihre lange Kontinuität fasziniert. Volker Reinhardt zeigt, dass diese Unveränderlichkeit eine Fiktion ist. Er erzählt höchst spannend, wie sich das Papsttum immer wieder neu erfunden hat, und vollbringt das Kunststück, dabei jedem Pontifikat in seinen theologischen, politischen und kulturellen Besonderheiten gerecht zu werden.<BR> Volker Reinhardt legt nach dreißigjähriger Forschung zur Geschichte Roms und des Papsttums mit diesem Buch die seit Langem erste Gesamtgeschichte der Päpste aus der Feder eines Historikers vor. Er schildert, wie die Bischöfe von Rom in der Antike den Primat über alle anderen Bischöfe durchsetzten, im Mittelalter die Hoheit über Könige und Kaiser gewannen, als weltliche Herrscher den Kirchenstaat vergrößerten und dabei jahrhundertelang die Erhöhung der eigenen Familie im Blick hatten. Unzählige Kunstwerke zeugen bis heute von diesem vielfältigen Machtanspruch, und die meisten entstanden in Renaissance und Barock, als die Machtfülle schon bröckelte. Bis weit ins 20. Jahrhundert stemmten sich die Päpste gegen die Moderne und handelten dem Papsttum das Stigma des Ewiggestrigen ein. Aber der Ruf nach Reformern ist, wie die fulminante Darstellung zeigt, so alt wie das Papsttum.

In diesem bisher einzigen veröffentlichten autobiographischen Werk schildert Joseph Ratzinger, Papst Benedikt XVI., seine erste Lebenshälfte bis zum Jahr 1977: die Kindheitsjahre in Oberbayern, wo er als jüngstes von drei Geschwistern in einer sehr religiösen Familie aufwuchs und mit zwölf Jahren in ein katholisches Studienseminar eintrat; die Erlebnisse als Hitlerjunge und Luftwaffenhelfer, die Kriegsgefangenschaft. Nach dem Krieg studiert er Theologie, wird zum Priester geweiht, schlägt dann jedoch die akademische Laufbahn ein. Als Mitglied der deutschen Delegation nimmt er am Vatikanischen Konzil teil, als Professor durchlebt er die Zeit der Studentenunruhen. Das Buch, das die prägenden Jahre Benedikts XVI. umfasst, endet mit seiner Ernennung zum Bischof, die ihm den Weg nach Rom eröffnet.Ausstattung: mit Abbildungen

In Italy, they call him il Papa, which means "The Father." Until his unprecedented election, author and friend Elisabetta Piqué called him Padre Jorge. He may have changed his name to become Pope Francis, but it did not change their friendship. Since Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis in 2013, countless books have been written to help the world understand this deeply complex yet simple servant of God. What sets Pope Francis: Life and Revolution apart from all other biographies of Pope Francis is the careful research and original investigation behind it, along with the fact that it is written by an internationally respected journalist--Elisabetta Piqué--who has remained close to the Pope since first meeting him back in 2001. Over 75 individuals were interviewed for Pope Francis: Life and Revolution, including lay people, priests, bishops, and cardinals who have known or worked with Francis at various times in his life. Insights from these people, as well as from friends and family members, allow us to see a profoundly personal side of the Pope. His humility and humanity, courage and conviction, and warmth and wisdom are revealed as Piqué shares little-known episodes from Francis's life. With a foreword by Cardinal Seán O'Malley, O.F.M. Cap., Pope Francis: Life and Revolution is the definitive resource and narrative of a man personally known by few and revered and respected by many. Pope Francis: Life and Revolution reveals a man consistent in his beliefs and actions. He is a spiritual leader unwavering in his love for God, whose inner joy and peace move him--and can inspire us--to serve the least, the last, and the lost. Also available in Spanish! El Papa Francisco: vida y revolución

Best known today as a fine composer, the twelfth-century German abbess Hildegard of Bingen was also a religious leader and visionary, a poet, naturalist and writer of medical treatises. Despite her cloistered life she had strong, often controversial views on sex, love and marriage too - a woman astonishing in her own age, whose book of apocalyptic visions, Scivias, would alone have been enough to ensure her lasting fame. In this classic and highly praised biography - first published by Headline in 2001 - distinguished writer and journalist, Fiona Maddocks, draws on Hildegard's prolific writings to paint a portrait of her extraordinary life against the turbulent medieval background of crusade and schism, scientific discovery and cultural revolution. The great intellectual gifts and forceful character that emerge make her as fascinating as any figure in the Middle Ages. More than 800 years after her death, Pope Benedict XVI has made Hildegard a Saint and a Doctor of the Church (one of only four women). Fiona Maddocks has provided a short new preface to cover these tributes to an extraordinary and exceptional woman.