PHOTO: ALAMY/MONDADORI PORTFOLIO/SIPA USA, GRZEGORZ GALAZKA
The body of Pope Benedict XVI lies in state in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican
COLUMN
Christopher Howse’s Notebook ‘Tolkien was not averse to translation into Elvish … he left several of the Our Father’ / 10
REGULARS Word from the Cloisters 23 Puzzles 23 Letters 24 The Living Spirit 25
CONTENTS 7 JANUARY 2023 // VOL 277 NO. 9484
POPE BENEDICT XVI: 1927-2022
4 / God’s shy, studious, charming, conservative radical Joseph Ratzinger was a scholar-pope who looked backwards to the certainties of the past and forward to the new evangelising possibilities of the future / BY CATHERINE PEPINSTER
5 / An essential gateway
The Church needed a transitional papacy after John Paul II / BY CORMAC MURPHY-O’CONNOR
6 / ‘We discussed the beauty of Anglican Evensong’
The Ordinariate was an answer to my prayers / BY KEITH NEWTON 11 / ‘People are not asking the questions they should be asking’ A left-leaning feminist and a conservative found points in common / BY ULLA GUDMUNDSON
12 / ‘I will go forward with courage and joy’ Benedict’s 2010 visit to Britain was a resounding success / BY JOANNA MOORHEAD
15 / ‘Oh, no. It’s Ratzinger’
Doubts over the new Pope soon gave way to respect / BY MARGARET HEBBLETHWAITE
16 / Humble, engaged and intellectually curious In person Benedict was very different from his public portrayal / BY FRANCIS CAMPBELL 18 / The defender of tradition who opened the door to reform His unexpected resignation helped to demystify the papacy / BY CHRISTOPHER LAMB
20 / Remembering the esteemed Professor Ratzinger
He gave his doctoral students complete freedom / BY VINCENT TWOMEY
22 / ‘Scholasticism wasn’t his beer’ Benedict drew on the whole gamut of Catholic intellectual tradition / BY TRACEY ROWLAND
NEWS
32 / The Church in the World / News briefing 33 / World leaders pay tribute to Benedict
35 / View from Rome 36 / News from Britain and Ireland / News briefing 37 / Justin Welby calls for action to fix UK’s social care
COVER: ALAMY/ABACA, ERIC VANDEVILLE
ARTS / PAGE 26 Exhibition From The Sword to The Cross JOANNA MOORHEAD Theatre As You Like It; Sons of the Prophet MARK LAWSON Radio Till ISABELLE GREY Television Stonehouse LUCY LETHBRIDGE
BOOKS / PAGE 29
John Borelli Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis JOHN T. MCGREEVY Maggie Fergusson Highlights of 2023 Ian Thomson Dante the Theologian DENYS TURNER
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7 JANUARY 2023 | THE TABLET | 3
