In Salt of the Earth, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, well-known Vatican prelate and head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gives a full-length interview to a secular journalist on a host of controversial and difficult issues facing Catholicism and Christianity at the end of the Millennium. The Cardinal responds with candor and insight, giving answers that are often surprising and always thought-provoking on a series of wide-reading topics regarding the present and future state of Christianity.
Ratzinger begins by discussing his own life, including his family life, seminary studies, being a theology professor and writer, becoming a Bishop, Cardinal, and the Pope's top authority on doctrine as head of the CDF. He then discusses the problems of the Catholic Church today, answering tough questions about the Church's position on divorce, celibacy, contraception, abortion, women's ordination, ecumenism, etc., and talks about the challenges and hopes of the future of the Church and the world at the beginning of the Third Millennium.
This is a rare and powerful in-depth interview of a renowned theologian and high-ranking Vatican official issues of critical importance for the Church and Christianity at the end of an age.