A Book Rocks the World 2 Days Before Being Published

There is nothing like a sense of the provocative, or a media firestorm, to drive book sales and the publishers of Pope Benedict XVI must be rubbing their hands with glee over the anticipated sales from this Tuesday’s publication of “Light of the World”, a series of conversations between the Pontiff and German Journalist Peter Seewald.

As of early Sunday Evening, there were nearly 3000 articles about the book, most by far dealing with comments the Pope made on exceptional circumstances where the use of condoms might be justified. The take on what the pope said, based on excerpts published in L’Osservatore Romano were described as “Pope Drops Historic Church Ban on Condoms” to “In Rare Cases, Pope Justifies Use of Condoms” to “ Condoms Justified to Stop Aids: Pope”. The book, the third that Pope Benedict has done with Seewald, two as Cardinal Ratzinger, actually covers many more issues than condoms: Pius XII and the Holocaust, the possibility of resigning if his health or mind were to deteriorate, the issue of the Clerical Sex Abuse Scandal to mention just three equally provocative topics. You can check out David Gibson or John Allen for relatively neutral assessments of the range.

But Condoms trumped, with Aids and Gay groups ‘welcoming’ the Pope’s ‘change of mind’ while others sought to clarify both what the Pope actually said and what it may or may not mean. The National Catholic Register leapt in with sheer surprise in a smart piece entitled “The Pope Said What About Condoms?” Catholic Voices in England, an Opus Dei supported group had people out all day on Sunday putting things in perspective. The Vatican suggested that much ado was being made about little. Damian Thompson of the Telegraph both tried to explain how Benedict’s newly revealed views were just part of the whole man while also musing aloud about why Conservatives might be reacting the way they are.

What is clear is that Catholics the world over, and lots of other people, are going to be combing through this book in the weeks and months to come. While the speculation runs amok and the heads are shaking, there's lots to ponder and more analysis to come. Count on it.