PEOPLE AROUND THE POPE

She hasn't written any articles lately, and in February, she launched her new book, Sete di Dio (Thirst for God), at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The girls in the Italian forum who have read the new book say it's a good read, and she does write about her friendship with Cardinal Ratzinger. Below is a translation of a review of the new book that appeared in Corriere della Sera recently.

Her two books on finding faith - Sete di Dio and Con occhi nuovi (With new eyes)

Faith does one good. It helps in life, helps make it better. It is also the power that shapes the spirit. It is not the enemy of reason, as some think. When one falls down (as sooner or later one does), faith helps one to get up again. In short, it is not only indispensable but convenient for all the days we need to go through that we call living.

These are some notes I wrote on the margins while I was reading the new book by Alessandra Borghese, Sete di Dio (Thirst for God), a work that is not a tract but is rich with ideas, tesimonies, experiences. The public knows the author for the booklength essay, Con nuovi occhi (With new eyes, 2004), in which she wrote about her rediscovery of faith.

Now she continues with simple but effective tesiomny. “Going around and encountering so many people, I would ask people provocative questions…But most often I would be asked instead, How does one find faith? And each time, I find myself moved by this desire for God.”

Very readable, and recommended to all who keep questioning and try to “find a place for God”, in the words of the atheist Giuseppe Prezzolini (he tried to convert but never succeeded).

Borghese reviews some famous persons who were “struck like lightning” by faith, among them Louis Pauwels, Andre Frossard, Vittorio Messori [all writers, by the way]. She talks of obstacles that must be removed (“ideologies and prejudices”), of her own experiences, her encounters with other converts. She answers the question “Is chastity possible?” and she does not avoid questions on Christian morals.

The last part of the book is dedicated to a Church united with Crhist and with his Vicar on earth. The author was close to John Paul II, and of the present Pope, she speaks of the “glorious surprise to find that a friend has become Pope.”

It is a book that fits well in the current vast and varied line-up of spiritual writings. Let us not forget that a publishing house like Citta Nuova has just come out for the first time with all the works of Augustine in Italian translation, and never before have three major publishing houses – Morcelliana, Paideia and Queriniana- been engaged at the same time in publishing religious books of high quality. [Queriniana is one of Joseph Ratzinger’s Italian publishers.] A miracle? No. It speaks of people needing God.
[As this review was published 2/26/06, it is glaring that the reviewer failed to cite the enormous success of Deus caritas est!]

The book on good manners by Alessandra Borghese and Gloria von Thurn und Taxis