Salt Of The Earth

Contents

Foreword
The Catholic Faith: Words And Signs

PART 1: Personal Biography
Background And Vocation
The Young Professor
Bishop And Cardinal
The Prefect And His Pope
Summary

PART 2: Problems Of The Catholic Church
Rome Under Fire
On The State Of The Church
The Situation In Germany
Causes Of The Decline
The Mistakes Of The Church
The Canon Of Criticism

PART 3: On The Threshold Of A New Era
Two Thousand Years Of Salvation History-and Still No Redemption?
Catharsis-A New Millennium-A Time Of Testing
A “New Springtime Of The Human Spirit” For The Third Millennium
Priorities Of The Church’s Development
Future Of The Church-Church Of The Future
The True History Of The World P. 276

Additional Info
CARDINAL JOSEPH RATZINGER
SALT OF THE EARTH: The Church at the End of the Millennium
An Interview with Peter Seewald

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, well-known Vatican prelate and head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, gives a full-length interview to a secular journalist on a host of controversial and difficult issues
facing Catholicism and Christianity at the end of the Millennium. He responds with candor and insight,
giving answers that are often surprising and always thought-provoking on a series of wide-ranging topics
regarding the present and future state of Christianity.

Ratzinger begins by discussing his own life, including his family life, seminary studies, being a theology
professor and writer, becoming a Bishop, Cardinal, and the Pope’s top authority on doctrine as head of the
CDF. He then discusses the problems of the Catholic Church today, answering tough questions about the
Church’s position on divorce, celibacy, contraception, abortion, women’s ordination, ecumenism, etc., and
talks about the challenges and hopes of the future of the Church and the world at the beginning of the Third
Millennium.

This is a rare and powerful in-depth interview of a renowned theologian and high ranking Vatican official on
issues of critical importance for the Church and Christianity at the end of an age.