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Vatican City, Vatican, 7th October 2004 (CNA) -
The Vatican spokesman
Joaquin Navarro Valls revealed Wednesday during
the Frankfurt Book Fair the latest title from Pope John
Paul II, "Memory and Identity: Conversations Between
Millenniums.”
The book, according to
Navarro-Valls, is based on the transcribed
and translated conversations of the Pontiff with
two Polish philosopher friends, Krzysztof
Michalski, a political philosopher at the Institute of
Human Science in Vienna, Austria; and the late
Rev. Jozef Tishner, during the summer of 1993 at
his summer residence, Castelgandolfo.
The book's
question-and-answer format takes a look at Europe over
the last 100 years, seeking to identify the "roots
of evil" such as the rise of Communism, Fascism, and
Nazism. It also tackles major issues such as the
relationship between church and state.
During the book's
presentation, which will be published by the
Italian Publisher Rizzoli in early 2005, the
Vatican spokesman released one of the book's
chapters.
In it, the Pope analyzes
the ideologies of Nazism and Communism that
dominated Europe for years. He also discussed his
definitions of freedom and democracy with
references to Aristotle and Catholic teachings.
"We were totally swallowed
up in a great eruption of evil," the Pope says in
the book.
He also says that "the Lord
God allowed Nazism 12 years of existence and after 12
years the system collapsed. Evidently this was the limit
imposed by Divine Providence upon that sort of folly."
The Pope's last mass
circulation book, "Crossing the Threshold of Hope,"
sold 20 million copies in three dozen languages
after it was published in 1994. It was the first papal
book to be sold to a mass market, addressing issues
from abortion to anti-Semitism.
As with previous titles,
all the Pope's royalties from "Memory and Idenity" will
go to charity.
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