Joseph Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI), renowned theologian and Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gives an exclusive in-depth interview to a famous Italian journalist, Vittorio Messori, on the state of the church near the end of the of twentieth century. Cardinal Ratzinger speaks candidly and forcefully about the challenges of the Church in the Post-Vatican II era.

Here is the complete text of a meeting many have called a "historical turnabout" in the Church. The roots of the crisis that has troubled Catholics in the twenty years since the Council are analyzed with forthright clarity by one of the most authoritative voices in the Vatican. This is a clear and uncompromising report on the dangers that threaten the Faith, from one who every day receives the most reliable information from every continent.

Yet Ratzinger's observations are as hopeful and balanced as they are clear-sighted, forcefully re-affirming the immense and positive work of Vatican II, whose genuine fruits this book provides a guideline for achieving.