Since his election as Pope Benedict XVI last April, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has been watched very closely to see how he would lead the Roman Catholic Church after the long reign of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. John Allen's book, The Rise of Benedict XVI gives a solid background to the life of this eminent theologian turned Pope and as the subtitle of the book says, it gives "the inside story of how the Pope was elected and where he will take the Catholic Church."

Cardinal Ratzinger served as the Prefect of the church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 1980 when he came to Rome at the behest of John Paul II. As the church's chief doctrinal cleric he was in a unique position to become the new pope. No other cardinal had such a close hand view of the church and what it takes to lead such a large worldwide body.

Even though he was a leading candidate, I remember the gasp of amazement from the reporters when we watched his introduction to the world that day in St. Peter's Square. The first words out of the reporters mouth was the new pope would need to turn his attention to the problem of a secularized Europe and the challenges to the church in its own backyard. Allen's book offers some insight into what this means.

Ecclesiastical winter in Europe

In recent months the church has lost a bitter fight to have the preamble to the now failed European Constitution include a reference to God and the Christian roots of Europe. Spain has passed laws permitting homosexual marriages, in direct defiance of church teaching.

Allen lists several trends pointing to the lack of influence for the church in Europe.