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Pope Benedict biography brings readers to 'Bavaria'
By Rebecca Bostic, rbostic@catholicsun.org
May 1, 2008
Few American Catholics anticipated the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI last month more eagerly than Brennan Pursell, author of the recently released biography “Benedict of Bavaria” (Circle Press).
George Gaenswein, the Holy Father’s private secretary, received the book during the U.S. papal trip. Although Gaenswein promised the Holy Father would see it, Pursell is not holding his breath that the Vicar of Christ will read the book.
“It means the world to me” that he will even see it, Pursell said. “He is immensely busy, and I really doubt that he is the kind of man who devotes a lot of time reading books about himself.”
With so many biographies on the pontiff already available, what prompted him to write another one?
“Frankly the tilted, unfair depictions of him in the mainstream media, caricatures that preceded his election in 2005 and continued until and during his visit to the U.S.A.,” Pursell answered. “The English biographies that appeared in 2005 and 2006 all seemed to pass over his cultural context in relative silence.”
Unlike other English-language biographies, Pursell’s focuses on the life of the pope in Germany where he wrote many books and articles, as well as provided interviews — sources that are generally unknown outside of Germany.
Pursell, a history professor at DeSales University, a Catholic liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, is fluent in German and has spent a great deal of time in the country, the homeland of his wife, a Bavarian pianist.
He is also a big fan of the pope’s. Having read many of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s works, Pursell fell “in love with the mind and soul behind them,” he said. The combination of a humble socioeconomic background with such intellectualism fascinated the author.
“We can learn so much from him about religion, philosophy, history, ethics, morality and humanity itself,” Pursell said. “I don’t think it is too much to say that his wisdom is timeless.”
Pursell’s high expectations for Pope Benedict XVI’s first trip to the United States as pontiff were entirely satisfied.
“It has destroyed tired old caricatures that he has patiently born for decades. Now no one can seriously compare him to a rottweiler, an inquisitor, an enforcer, or a German tank — all absurd,” Pursell said.
“The reactions of the crowds, of individuals who met him, shows that all those frequently observed differences between him and John Paul the Great are superficial,” he added.
Pursell was not surprised by the attention the pontiff devoted to the sexual abuse scandal in the United States because he believes Pope Benedict knew it was necessary to address the issue.
“He felt the need, as a good pastor, to speak the truth” about the scandal, Pursell said.
“A wound must be cleared and cleaned before it can heal properly,” he added. “Everywhere he exhorted all the faithful to aid, through prayer, reconciliation, and action — to make sure that the Church comes out of the crisis and achieves real healing and purification.”
Especially pleased that the pontiff met with some of the victims, off camera, Pursell said that it was “a vital, quiet, sincere gesture.”
Pursell was surprised by only one of the pope action’s —the blessing of a cornerstone of a new Catholic high school in Arlington, Va., named “John Paul the Great.”
“I take that as an indicator for good things to come,” Pursell said. “John Paul will proceed through history as more than ‘the Second.’”
Rebecca Bostic is a regular contributor to The Catholic Sun. Comments are welcome. Send e-mail to letters@catholicsun.org.
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