After Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI resigned from the papacy in 2013, he never stopped thinking or writing. Near the end of his life, he and editor Elio Guerriero gathered together a whole volume of new material, dealing with the themes closest to his heart. The pope asked that it be published upon his death.

This final work isWhat Is Christianity?It takes up a kaleidoscopic array of themes: the Christian faiths relationship with other religions, especially Judaism and Islam; the theology and reform of the liturgy; the priesthood; the saints; the Eucharist; the travesty of abuse; the beauty of nature; Italian and German culture; and much more.

With prophetic insight into our times, Benedict warns of a radical manipulation of man in the name of tolerance, insisting that the only authentic counterweight to every form of intolerance is Christ himselfand Christ crucified.

A lifelong Catholic, the late pope pays tribute to some of the giant figures of Christianity who have served him through the years as guiding stars: his predecessor Pope John Paul II, the twentieth-century German Jesuit martyr Alfred Delp, and the silent carpenter Joseph, his patron saint.

What Is Christianity?is a frank spiritual testamentfrom a theological master, a churchman who loved the faith of simple Christians but who always stood ready, even in his last days, to dialogue about every aspect of human lifein love and in truth.

230 pages. Hardcover.