
Benedict XVI
Defender of the Faith
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Narrated by:
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Kevin O'Brien
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By:
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Joseph Pearce
About this listen
Pope Benedict XVI will go down in Church history as one of the greatest popes. In this heartfelt defense of Pope Benedict’s words and works, a tribute to his life and legacy and an homage to his sanity and sanctity, Joseph Pearce’s biography provides an unforgettable encounter with this great historical figure.
As the defender of the Faith, Pope Benedict XVI fought tirelessly and largely successfully against the forces of secularism first as the indomitable Ratzinger, and then as the incomparable supreme pontiff. As an uncompromising defender of the dignity of the human person, he fought the wickedness of the world in his unremitting battle against the dictatorship of relativism and its culture of death. Within the Church, he fought against the spirit of the world in his war on modernism and its worship of the spirit of the age, restoring the splendor of truth in his defense of orthodoxy and the splendor of the liturgy in his defense of tradition.
Years from now, Catholics will still look back on Pope Benedict’s enduring legacy with enormous gratitude. For he successfully steered the Barque of Peter in charity and truth against the evil tides that sought to engulf the Church.
©2021 Joseph Pearce (P)2021 TAN BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Last Testament
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Since resigning from the papacy in 2013, the first pope in more than 700 years to do so, Pope Benedict has lived quietly in a convent in the Vatican gardens in Rome. He has devoted himself to a life of prayer and study and has vowed to remain silent, until now. So much controversy still surrounds Pope Benedict’s time in office - in this book, written with best-selling German author Peter Seewald, he addresses the issues of his papacy and reveals how, at his late age, governing and reforming the Church was beyond him.
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A perfect book
- By John A. on 11-29-21
By: Pope Benedict XVI, and others
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Introduction To Christianity (2nd Edition)
- By: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI
- Narrated by: Scott Russell
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
One of Cardinal Ratzinger's most important and widely read books, this volume is a revised second edition with an improved translation and an in-depth preface by the Cardinal. As he states in the preface, since this book was first published over 30 years ago, many changes and significant events have occurred in the world, and in the Church. But even so, he says he is firmly convinced that his fundamental approach in this book is still very timely and crucial for the spiritual needs of modern man.
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great book poorly narrated
- By Harrison Ayre on 12-24-22
By: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and others
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The Spirit of the Liturgy
- Commemorative Edition
- By: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Romano Guardini
- Narrated by: David Sanborn
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Considered by Joseph Ratzinger devotees as his greatest work on the liturgy, this profound and beautifully written treatment of the "great prayer of the Church" will help listeners to deepen their understanding of the rites of the Church. The cardinal discusses fundamental misunderstandings of the Second Vatican Council's intentions for liturgical renewal, especially about the priest's orientation of prayer to the Father, the placement of the tabernacle in churches, and the posture of kneeling.
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Excellent books on Catholic liturgy . . .
- By Thomas St. Catherine on 01-23-23
By: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, and others
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Benedict XVI: A Life, Volume One
- Volume One: Youth in Nazi Germany to the Second Vatican Council, 1927–1965
- By: Peter Seewald
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 19 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Benedict XVI: A Life offers insight into the young life and rise through the Church’s ranks of a man who would become a hero and a lightning rod for Catholics the world over. Based on countless hours of interviews in Rome with Benedict himself, this two-volume biography is the definitive record of the life of Joseph Ratzinger and the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI. This first volume follows his early life, from his days growing up in Germany and his conscription into the Hitler Youth during WWII to his career as an academic theologian and eventual archbishop of Munich.
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Okay for some purposes
- By ReviewAmazon384 on 08-23-21
By: Peter Seewald
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Jesus of Nazareth
- The Infancy Narratives
- By: Pope Benedict XVI
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 2007, Joseph Ratzinger published his first book as Pope Benedict XVI in order “to make known the figure and message of Jesus”. Now, the Pope focuses exclusively on the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life as a child. The root of these stories is the experience of hope found in the birth of Jesus and the affirmations of surrender and service embodied in his parents, Joseph and Mary.
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An Insightful Book from a Great Theologian
- By Nancy on 12-24-12
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What Is Christianity?
- The Last Writings
- By: Pope Benedict XVI
- Narrated by: Kevin O'Brien
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
With prophetic insight into our times, Benedict warns of a "radical manipulation of man" in the name of tolerance, insisting that the only "authentic counterweight to every form of intolerance" is Christ himself—and Christ crucified. A lifelong Catholic, the late pope pays tribute to some of the giant figures of Christianity who have served him through the years as guiding stars: his predecessor Pope John Paul II, the 20th-century German Jesuit martyr Alfred Delp, and the silent carpenter Joseph, his patron saint.
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Important insights re Israel
- By Juelz S. on 11-16-23
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Last Testament
- In His Own Words
- By: Pope Benedict XVI, Peter Seewald
- Narrated by: Roger May, Gordon Griffin
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since resigning from the papacy in 2013, the first pope in more than 700 years to do so, Pope Benedict has lived quietly in a convent in the Vatican gardens in Rome. He has devoted himself to a life of prayer and study and has vowed to remain silent, until now. So much controversy still surrounds Pope Benedict’s time in office - in this book, written with best-selling German author Peter Seewald, he addresses the issues of his papacy and reveals how, at his late age, governing and reforming the Church was beyond him.
-
-
A perfect book
- By John A. on 11-29-21
By: Pope Benedict XVI, and others
-
Introduction To Christianity (2nd Edition)
- By: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI
- Narrated by: Scott Russell
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Cardinal Ratzinger's most important and widely read books, this volume is a revised second edition with an improved translation and an in-depth preface by the Cardinal. As he states in the preface, since this book was first published over 30 years ago, many changes and significant events have occurred in the world, and in the Church. But even so, he says he is firmly convinced that his fundamental approach in this book is still very timely and crucial for the spiritual needs of modern man.
-
-
great book poorly narrated
- By Harrison Ayre on 12-24-22
By: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and others
-
The Spirit of the Liturgy
- Commemorative Edition
- By: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Romano Guardini
- Narrated by: David Sanborn
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Considered by Joseph Ratzinger devotees as his greatest work on the liturgy, this profound and beautifully written treatment of the "great prayer of the Church" will help listeners to deepen their understanding of the rites of the Church. The cardinal discusses fundamental misunderstandings of the Second Vatican Council's intentions for liturgical renewal, especially about the priest's orientation of prayer to the Father, the placement of the tabernacle in churches, and the posture of kneeling.
-
-
Excellent books on Catholic liturgy . . .
- By Thomas St. Catherine on 01-23-23
By: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, and others
-
Benedict XVI: A Life, Volume One
- Volume One: Youth in Nazi Germany to the Second Vatican Council, 1927–1965
- By: Peter Seewald
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 19 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Benedict XVI: A Life offers insight into the young life and rise through the Church’s ranks of a man who would become a hero and a lightning rod for Catholics the world over. Based on countless hours of interviews in Rome with Benedict himself, this two-volume biography is the definitive record of the life of Joseph Ratzinger and the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI. This first volume follows his early life, from his days growing up in Germany and his conscription into the Hitler Youth during WWII to his career as an academic theologian and eventual archbishop of Munich.
-
-
Okay for some purposes
- By ReviewAmazon384 on 08-23-21
By: Peter Seewald
-
Jesus of Nazareth
- The Infancy Narratives
- By: Pope Benedict XVI
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2007, Joseph Ratzinger published his first book as Pope Benedict XVI in order “to make known the figure and message of Jesus”. Now, the Pope focuses exclusively on the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life as a child. The root of these stories is the experience of hope found in the birth of Jesus and the affirmations of surrender and service embodied in his parents, Joseph and Mary.
-
-
An Insightful Book from a Great Theologian
- By Nancy on 12-24-12
-
What Is Christianity?
- The Last Writings
- By: Pope Benedict XVI
- Narrated by: Kevin O'Brien
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With prophetic insight into our times, Benedict warns of a "radical manipulation of man" in the name of tolerance, insisting that the only "authentic counterweight to every form of intolerance" is Christ himself—and Christ crucified. A lifelong Catholic, the late pope pays tribute to some of the giant figures of Christianity who have served him through the years as guiding stars: his predecessor Pope John Paul II, the 20th-century German Jesuit martyr Alfred Delp, and the silent carpenter Joseph, his patron saint.
-
-
Important insights re Israel
- By Juelz S. on 11-16-23
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Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church
- By: Pope Benedict XVI
- Narrated by: Kevin O'Brien
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Based on Pope Benedict XVI's weekly teaching on the relationship between Christ and the Church, this book tells the drama of Jesus' first disciples—his Apostles and their associates—and how they spread Jesus' message throughout the ancient world. Far from distorting the truth about Jesus of Nazareth, insists Pope Benedict, the early disciples remained faithful to it, even at the cost of their lives.
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Actual events. DefinedJaames not brother of Jesus
- By ynotkaps on 03-29-25
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God Is Love
- By: Pope Benedict XVI
- Narrated by: Kevin O'Brien
- Length: 2 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In his first Encyclical, Pope Benedict helps to clarify the meaning of love. He examines the nature of various kinds of love—human love and divine love, eros, friendship, and charity. He writes beautifully and inspirationally of how man was made for love by the God who is love, the God who became one of us out of love—Jesus Christ.
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Powerful words as usual from Benedict XVI
- By Kenneth Alimba on 03-05-25
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Witness to Hope
- The Biography of Pope John Paul II
- By: George Weigel
- Narrated by: Sam Tsoutsouvas
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Witness to Hope is the authoritative biography of one of the singular figures - some might argue the singular figure - of our time. With unprecedented cooperation from John Paul II and the people who knew and worked with him throughout his life, George Weigel offers a groundbreaking portrait of the Pope as a man, a thinker, and a leader whose religious convictions defined a new approach to world politics - and changed the course of history.
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NOT Unabridged
- By Dr. Michael Anthony Novak on 03-03-20
By: George Weigel
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The Devil and Bella Dodd
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
“Step by step, I retreated from God and went forth to meet the world, the flesh, and the devil.... I’d join the devil himself.... There is no doubt that I traveled with him at my side and that he extorted a great price for his company.” This is how Bella Dodd (1904–69) described her long battle with atheistic communism, an ideology her Church calls a “satanic scourge.” She later described it as a “school of darkness,” a school of “hate,” a school for which she was a master organizer and infiltrator of every organization—public, private, and even ecclesiastical.
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Bella Dodd needs a better biography.
- By Scott Free on 02-01-25
By: Mary Nicholas, and others
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To Sanctify the World
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- Narrated by: Steven Arthur
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) was the most important Catholic event in the past five hundred years. Yet sixty years after its opening on October 11, 1962, its meaning remains sharply contested and its promise unfulfilled. In To Sanctify the World, George Weigel explains the necessity of Vatican II and explores the continuing relevance of its teaching in a world seeking a deeper experience of freedom than personal willfulness.
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Fails to see how Vatican II broke with tradition
- By Amanda S on 12-20-24
By: George Weigel
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Introduction to the Spiritual Life
- Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus
- By: Brant Pitre
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
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Performance
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Story
The path of following Jesus is an ancient and storied spiritual tradition. Yet many believers are not familiar with the three major forms of prayer and the three stages of spiritual growth that exist to bring them closer to God. In his most personal book yet, Brant Pitre, PhD, draws on the riches of the Bible, the words of Jesus, and the writings of mystics across the centuries to shed light on the mystery - and wonder - of the spiritual life.
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I thirst…
- By Amazon Customer on 12-20-21
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The Once and Future Roman Rite
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- Narrated by: Kevin O'Brien
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In his latest book, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski argues that ever since the new liturgical books following the Second Vatican Council came into force, Roman Catholic faithful have suffered the effects of a hasty and far-reaching reform permeated with nominalism, voluntarism, Protestantism, rationalism, antiquarianism, hyperpapalism, and other modern errors. Man is not master over divine liturgy, Dr. Kwasniewski emphasizes; rather, all of us are called to be stewards of the sacred, from the lowest-ranking layman to the pope himself.
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Very thorough!
- By William C Scott on 03-06-25
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A Church in Crisis
- Pathways Forward
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- Narrated by: Ralph Martin
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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audio file has errors
- By Rednax on 05-31-21
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Antichrist and Apocalypse
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Can you answer this question: Who is the Antichrist and what is the Apocalypse? The earliest Christians following the Twelve Apostles often spoke and wrote about the arrival of the Antichrist before the return of Jesus Christ at the end of time. Best-selling author and professor Dr. Taylor Marshall provides an easy-to-understand collection of Church fathers, saints, and mystics as he pulls back the curtain on the end times prophecies of the Book of Revelation—the book originally called the Apocalypse.
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Above my theological level
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Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist
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- Unabridged
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In recent years, Christians everywhere are rediscovering the Jewish roots of their faith. Every year at Easter time, many believers now celebrate Passover meals (known as Seders) seeking to understand exactly what happened at Jesus' final Passover, the night before he was crucified. Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist shines fresh light on the Last Supper by looking at it through Jewish eyes.
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I am a Protestant trying to learn more about the significance of the Eucharist and I feel that my eyes have been opened up ..
- By Kim Lank on 03-08-18
By: Brant Pitre, and others
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The Life of Christ
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- Unabridged
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Fulton J. Sheen - bishop, scholar, professor, radio and television personality, and writer - spent his life sharing the Word of God with millions of Christians across the world. One of his best-known works is The Life of Christ, written in 1954. This book explores the foretelling of Christ's birth, his life, temptations, death, and resurrection. But while Sheen himself was a scholar and an academic, his recounting is both listenable and accessible to the layperson.
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Definitely abridged
- By Regina on 01-30-21
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The Ultimate Catholicism Collection: The Writings and Prayers of Great Catholic Saints
- Introduction to the Devout Life, True Devotion to Mary, The Interior Castle, Lives of the Saints, Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena, & The Spiritual Exercises
- By: St. Francis de Sales, St. Louie de Montfort, St. Teresa of Avila, and others
- Narrated by: Museum Audiobooks Cast
- Length: 69 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The saints, the heroes of the Roman Catholic faith, lived lives of holiness, dedicated to serving God. The saints lived at different times in different places throughout history, but they all shared a love of God that has been documented through the teachings of the Church. Today, the saints serve as examples for all Catholics, showing the believers how to lead a more spiritual life. Catholic devotions are particular customs, rituals and practices of worship or in honour of the saints that are in addition to the liturgy of the Catholic Church.
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The reader is important!
- By Anonymous User on 06-09-21
By: St. Francis de Sales, and others
What listeners say about Benedict XVI
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- India A.
- 05-18-22
The most enlightening book I’ve ever read
Everyone in the world who loves Christ should read this amazing book! It has shed light on areas of uncertainty that I have struggled with and searched for as it relates to the meaning of love. Love is a rational choice not an irrational feeling. His words of poetry and truth.
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- Wilfred Raymond
- 05-15-23
Timely and so fitting
Joseph Pierce has lifted up for us the powerful and truthful witness of Pope Benedict to the truth, goodness and beauty of the Catholic faith. Gives us all hope.
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- dylan stuckey
- 08-04-23
Overall Good
This book was good overall but there are a few shortcomings. I have a great admiration for Pope Benedict and this book helped increase that admiration. Some drawbacks is I think it’s rhetoric about the ‘62 missal has aged poorly, is greatly exaggerated and almost suggests rupture with the current missal which I feel confident that the great theologian Ratzinger wouldn’t quite agree with how his position is characterized here. Also some historical claims are false most notably before Pope Benedict there has been more than a couple Popes who have resigned willingly. Overall Great book but those things bugged me.
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- T. Ferguson
- 12-31-22
Pearce Should Have Narrated
Joseph Pearce is a wonderful writer, I have a number of his books. Unfortunately, I returned this Audible book after trying to listen to it. kevin O'Brien, has an unappealing stacatto delivery that distracts from the text. Joseph Pearce would have done a great job reading his own material, heavy Brits accent and all...
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3 people found this helpful
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- Debby from NJ
- 01-08-23
Another Excellent book by Joseph Pearce
Though brief, the content is excellent. I did not like the Narrator at all.
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1 person found this helpful
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- St. Joe's amigo
- 01-09-22
Hagiography of BXVI
If you were curious about Benedict the 16th or a fan of his he will appreciate it significantly. Mind you it is a litany of highlights with a little attention to areas of concern. Yet it is a wonderful refresher of a time with a pope who loves God and the Church
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-21-23
Excellent
Such a good summary of Pope Benedict XVI and his works. I absolutely love this Pope.
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- S. Cremona
- 04-10-23
A True "Defenderof the Faith"
“Benedict XVI: Defender of the Faith” is an outstanding introduction and overview of Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Ratzinger) and his life long journey as a Catholic Priest. This book highlight’s Pope Benedict’s many contributions to providing faithfully reliable resources for Catholics to better understand the Catholic Church in their journey with the Lord. Highly recommend as a starting pint to begin an in-depth understanding of this true “Defender of the Faith”. Experienced as an Audio Book
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