Peter Seewald

Is there a connection between the crisis of the Church and the crisis of society? In this wide-ranging conversation, Bishop Stefan Oster and veteran journalist Peter Seewald discuss whether and how Catholicism still fits a "civil society" and increasingly globalized world. For the bishop, the future of the Catholic Church is a matter of renewal resulting from preservation. Speaking to the state of the Church in Germany while applying those lessons worldwide, he encourages the faithful to enter into the mystery of faith and personally experience God, prioritizing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. As he asks "whether we will let the Gospel take effect once again," Oster stands in the tradition of those reformers who want to draw from the source, who want to set into motion a reform that comes from the Faith itself, contrary to all attempts to adapt and water down the Gospel.

The first volume of Peter Seewald's authoritative biography. By any reckoning, the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI was extraordinary, with moments of high drama. Not the least of these was his resignation from office in February 2013, the first papal resignation in 500 years. But who was Joseph Ratzinger? In this definitive biography, based on meticulous historical research and many hours of taped interviews with his subject, Peter Seewald shows the exceptional circumstances in which the exceptionally talented son of a Bavarian policeman became the first German pope for 950 years. In this first volume, covering the years 1927–1965, we witness Joseph Ratzinger’s early days, living above his father’s police station. Ratzinger came to adulthood through the years of National Socialism. Though hostile to the rise of Hitler, his family knew well about Dachau and Ratzinger himself was conscripted into the Hitler Youth. Joseph Ratzinger proved to be a man of exceptional intellectual gifts and by the time of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) he was already noted as one of the outstanding intellects present and was nominated a ‘peritus’ or theological expert. This was also the time of the start of his friendship with the Swiss theologian Hans Küng who was to become his nemesis. Of his predecessor, Pope Francis has said: ‘Pope Benedict was a great Pope, great for the penetration of his intelligence, great for his important contribution to theology, great for his love of the Church and human beings, great for his virtues and faith’. Even in this first volume, we begin to understand how this came to be true.

Emeritus Pope Benedict commanded both adulation and unremitting criticism. To millions, he was a beacon of light in a turbulent modern world. In this second volume of Peter Seewald’s authoritative biography, the story continues from the Second Vatican Council (1965–8) right up to his resignation in 2013. We see how Benedict was influenced by the Council and the ensuing political unrest all over Europe to move from a liberal perspective on the Church and the modern world to one that was profoundly conservative. Appointed in 1981 as prefect of the Congregation of Doctrine of the Faith, and quickly nicknamed ‘God’s Rottweiler’, he proved to be intransigent on the controversial issues of abortion, contraception, gay rights and gay marriage. But elected Pope in 2005, his tenure of office was so riven with shocking revelations of controversy and scandal that it seemed that by the time of his resignation in 2013 he was incapable of handling the complexities of the Church in the modern world. Vatilieaks, sexual abuse by priests, the Regensburg speech which became the spark of an eruption of anger and rage in the Muslim world - all these hit the world's media headlines. Peter Seewald is the only person who was close enough to Benedict to assess the man himself and to uncover the truth about so many of the controversial issues surrounding this most controversial papacy. Seewald had already published two books of interviews with Benedict and this book is based not just on meticulous research but on many hours of recorded interviews with Benedict himself. It will stand for many years as the definitive biography of Benedict XVI from an author with unrivalled access to the Pope Emeritus.

Die Arbeitsinspektion ist die wichtigste Beh rde in sterreich zur Wahrnehmung des ArbeitnehmerInnenschutzes und ist Teil der ffentlichen Verwaltung. Sie unterliegt daher den diversen Erwartungshaltungen von z. B. den Arbeitgeberinnen bzw. den Arbeitgebern. Da der Staat das Zusammenleben von Menschen durch Anordnungen regelt und auch die Arbeitsinspektion Anordnungen zu vollziehen hat, sollten die Normadressaten diese Anordnungen auch verstehen. Um die Verwirklichung der Anordnungen zu sichern sind bestimmte Sanktionen festgelegt, welche mitunter auch in einem Verwaltungsstrafverfahren enden k nnen. Dieses ist jedoch kein Selbstzweck und naturgem nicht positiv konnotiert. Vielmehr sollte es das Ziel des Verwaltungsstrafverfahrens sein, die Bestrafte bzw. den Bestraften zuk nftig von unrechtm igem Handeln abzuhalten. Ob jedoch ein rechtskr ftig abgeschlossenes Verwaltungsstrafverfahren eine Bestrafte bzw. einen Bestraften wirklich zu einer ge nderten Einstellung zu den ArbeitnehmerInnenschutzbestimmungen und auch zur Arbeitsinspektion bewegt, war nicht bekannt und wurde dahingehend Forschungsbedarf erkannt. Weiters besch ftigt sich die Studie auch mit der Thematik der Wahrnehmung eines etwaig ethischen Handelns durch Organe der Arbeitsinspektion im Umfeld des Bereichs der Feststellung von bertretungen, deren Nichtbehebung und des folgenden Verwaltungsstrafverfahren.

The first volume of Peter Seewald's long awaited, authoritative biography of Pope Benedict XVI. By any reckoning, the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI was extraordinary, with moments of high drama. Not the least of these was his resignation from office in February 2013, the first papal resignation in almost 600 years. But who was Joseph Ratzinger? In this definitive biography, based on meticulous historical research and many hours of taped interviews with his subject, Peter Seewald shows the exceptional circumstances in which the exceptionally talented son of a Bavarian policeman became the first German pope for 950 years. In this first volume, covering the years 1927–1965, we witness Joseph Ratzinger’s early days, living above his father’s police station. Ratzinger came to adulthood through the years of National Socialism. Though hostile to the rise of Hitler, his family knew well about Dachau and Ratzinger himself was conscripted into the Hitler Youth. Joseph Ratzinger proved to be a man of exceptional intellectual gifts and by the time of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) he was already noted as one of the outstanding intellects present and was nominated a ‘peritus’ or theological expert. This was also the time of the start of his friendship with the Swiss theologian Hans Küng who was to become his nemesis. Of his predecessor, Pope Francis has said: ‘Pope Benedict was a great Pope, great for the penetration of his intelligence, great for his important contribution to theology, great for his love of the Church and human beings, great for his virtues and faith’. Even in this first volume, we begin to understand how this came to be true.

'Gripping ... An exquisite conversation between two people who know each other, like each other, and have mutual respect for one another' - Catholic TimesSince resigning from the papacy in 2013, the first Pope in over 700 years to do so, Pope Benedict has lived quietly in a convent in the Vatican gardens in Rome. He has devoted himself to a life of prayer and study and has vowed to remain silent, until now. So much controversy still surrounds Pope Benedict’s time in office – in this book, written with bestselling German author Peter Seewald, he addresses the issues of his papacy and reveals how, at his late age, governing and reforming the Church was beyond him. Last Testament is also an autobiography, recalling Pope Benedict’s childhood in Germany under Nazism, his early development as a priest, and eventually his appointment as Archbishop of Munich. After becoming Pope, his account deals with the controversies that rocked the Catholic world – how he enraged Muslims with his Regensburg speech, what he did and did not do to stamp out the clerical sexual abuse of children, the ‘Vatileaks’ scandal and how he broke up a gay cabal within the Vatican itself. At all times, we see a man who is shy and retiring and modest being exceptionally open and frank with the outside world. In this Last Testament, a unique book insofar as no other living Pope has had the opportunity to write an account having left office, Benedict gives in his own words an unprecedented view of the difficulties, the achievements and the consequences of his time as head of the Catholic Church worldwide.

In a lengthy interview held over three days at the Abbey of Monte Cassino, the future pope answers questions on faith, God, Christ, the Church, and related topics.