The Catholic Church is on the verge of a transition of great consequence.
As Catholic theologian, historian, and papal biographer George Weigel notes, the next pope will probably have been a teenager or a very young man during the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965); he may even have been a child during those years. Thus the next pope will not have been shaped by the experience of the Council and the immediate debates over its meaning and reception like Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis. The next pope, Weigel writes, "will be a transitional figure in a different way than his immediate predecessors. So it seems appropriate to ponder now what the Church has learned during the pontificates of these three conciliar popes—and to suggest what the next pope might take from that learning."
Drawing on his personal discussions with John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis, as well as his decades of experience with Catholics from every continent, George Weigel examines the major challenges confronting the Catholic Church and its 1.3 billion believers in the twenty-first century: challenges the next pontificate must address as the Church enters new, uncharted territory. To what is the Holy Spirit calling this Church-in-transition? What are the qualities needed in the man who will lead the Church from the Chair of Saint Peter?
Taking lessons from the pontificates of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis, George Weigel proposes what the Catholic leaders of the future, especially the next pope, must do to remain faithful to the Holy Spirit's summons to renewed evangelical witness, intensified missionary fervor, and Christ-centered reform in the wake of grave institutional failures, mission confusion, counter-witness, and the secularist challenge to biblical faith.
The characteristics of the construction of St. Peter's Basilica as we know it today - rebuilt during the Renaissance on the original site of the ancient Christian basilica - are structured according to a symbolic system that refers to the origins of Christianity and the teachings of the Catholic Reformation.
The main element that characterizes the "new St. Peter" is centered on the symbolism of the unusual relationship that develops between the central dome, the altar and the tomb of the saint. The connection of these three elements raises the true vertical axis of the encounter between nature and sopranatura. A vertical axis that intersects the horizontal axis centered on the square outside the basilica, surrounded by colonnades.
The symbolism of each chapel is consistent with that of all others, but in the mosaics that the message that the church is the bearer winds extensively.
Are mosaics in the central dome, in the side chapels, the domes of the individual chapels and altarpieces; hectares of tiles that create the largest mosaic in the world system.
The intent of this book is to lead the reader by the hand through the harmony and the greatness of these mosaics, analyzing the issues that they bring on stage. In this way, complex and returning the message of the Basilica.
This is an important iconographic reading to understand the space and the images of Saint Peter. The Chapel of baptism, for example, depicts three scenes in his dome water baptism, baptism by blood (martyrdom) and desire. This proves that in Christian tradition, the universal salvation of mankind has always been a key theme.
Each chapel, with its dome and altarpiece, weaves its dialogue with the history of the Church and its doctrine.
The volume, edited by the venerable Fabric of St. Peter has a wealth of unreleased material along with iconographic and documentary introduces and leads the reader into the heart of the First Church of Western Christianity. The work is enhanced by a specially made photographic campaign, which brings the reader to these masterpieces with a detail never seen until now.
Edizione cartonata e illustrata di questa guida alla storia di tutti i potenfici. Versione in lingua inglese. Il libro costituisce un sintetico ma godibile manuale per conoscere i singoli Papi nel particolare, ma anche la variegata storia del pontificato più in generale. Il libro, disponibile anche in lingua inglese, è rivolto a tutti i fedeli e agli appassionati con l'intento di accendere nel lettore la curiosità per ulteriori letture di approfondimento.