Rupert Shortt

Joseph Ratzinger’s coat of many colours

The previous pope was once a keen reformer of the Catholic Church, says Peter Seewald, but became obsessed with the alleged nihilism of modern mores

Photograph taken in 1943 of Joseph Ratzinger as a German Air Force assistant. Credit: Getty Images

  • Benedict XVI: A Life,Volume I: Youth in Nazi Germany to the Second Vatican Council, 1927-1965

    Peter Seewald

    Bloomsbury, pp. 500, £30

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Charles Moore

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There is no proper reason for the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. No iniquity was proved against him. It has never been clear why, in the horrendous case of John Smyth, people thought the buck should stop with him. Smyth was never an Anglican priest (indeed, he was refused ordination), nor paid

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