Benedict XVI: A Life Volume 2- Professor and Prefect to Pope and Pope Emeritus 1966 to The Present by Peter Seewald ( published by Bloomsbury Continuum 2021: £30). Commanding international respect as a theologian of authority and great learning, Joseph Ratzinger humbly used his immense knowledge for the service of the Church, after his academic career as Bishop, Cardinal. Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and, finally, as Pope upon his election as successor to Pope Saint John Paul the Second in 2005. Peter Seewald, renowned authority on Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, concludes his analysis of this dedication to the Church by the author’s conclusion “ Benedict XVI was regarded not only as the greatest theologian to sit on the chair of St Peter, but also as one of the most important thinkers of our time. He was both a thinker and a man of prayer, for whom the mysteries of Christ were the decisive reality of the world creation and world history”.