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. As in his best-selling book interview in 1985, The Ratzinger Report, he responds with candor and insight, giving answer that are often surprising and always thought-provoking on a series of wide-ranging 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, ets., 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 on issues of critical importance for the Church and Christianity at the end of an age.

"Anyone who wants to deepen his own understanding of the working of grace in our time will enjoy this book."
          -Most Rev. Francis E. George, O.M.I.,
             Archbishop of Chicago

"One of the most arresting, enjoyable books I've read in years. The Joseph Ratzinger who emerges from these pages is amazingly frank and engaging a man with a superb intellect but also with a simple, humble, generosity of spirit. In his pursuit of Christian truth without rancor and in his optimism about the future of the Church, Cardinal Ratzinger offers us tremendous encouragement as we begin a new era for the faith."
          -Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M., Cap.,
             Archbishop of Denver

"Cardinal Ratzinger is truly one of the great figures in the Church today. His new book gives us once again the opportunity to benefit from his refreshingly honest and very profound insights into where we're coming from as a Church, where we are now, and where we're heading in the future. I marvel at the profound peace and steadfastness of his intellect and his person."
          -Ralph Martin,
             Author, The Catholic Church at the End of an Age

"Salt of the Earth is Cardinal Ratzinger at his free-wheeling best, virtually roving the world with theological and cultural analyses as pungent as they are dazzling. His candor is breathtaking."
          -John Cardinal O'Connor,
             Archbishop of New York