Handing on the Faith in an Age of Disbelief

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Godfried Cardinal Daneels Franciszek Cardinal Macharski Archbishop Dermot J. Ryan “The fact that there can be long-lasting periods of decline in the Church is, unfortunately, plain enough from history.  Yet history also shows that the totality of the Church – which extends through the whole world and through all times and is held together and embodied by the Petrine office – bears within itself the powers of regeneration, so that it rises again and again from the dust to proclaim the message of salvation.”  – Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Handing on the Faith in an Age of Disbelief. Pope Benedict XVI, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was for over two decades the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, working closely with Pope John Paul II.  He is a renowned theologian and author of many works including Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures, God and the World, God is Near Us, God’s Revolution, Introduction to Christianity, Values in a Time of Upheaval, and many more from Ignatius Press.