George Weigel

Un trabajo magistral que muestra los principios morales, la estrategia y las tácticas necesarias para ganar esta guerra por la supervivencia de Occidente y de la democracia.

Corren tiempos de crisis en la Iglesia Católica. Los escándalos por abusos sexuales en Estados Unidos han puesto en entredicho la credibilidad del clero. George Weigel analiza las causas profundas que han llevado a que la Iglesia Catolica alberguen en su seno a personas que dañan a los jovenes y apunta que una crisis es tambien una oportunidad para la renovacion.

Beneficiario de un acceso sin precedentes al papa Juan Pablo II y a las personas que lo conocido a lo largo de su vida, George Weigel presente un acabado retrato del Sumo Pontífice como hombre, filósofo y líder religioso cuyas convicciones han definido una manera nueva de enfocar la política mundial, cambiando el curso de la historia. Weigel analiza información inédita sobre su papel en algunos de los momentos más trascendentales de nuestro tiempo, como el desmoronamiento del comunismo, la negociación entre el Vaticano e Israel, la caída de las dictaduras de Filipinas, Chile, Nicaragua y Paraguay, y la histórica visita papal a Cuba.

La biografía más esperada del Papa que cambió el curso de la historia. Cuando fue elegido Papa en el otoño de 1978, apenas se sabía nada del carismático Karol Wojtyla. Pero en un periodo de tiempo mu

No sabemos quién será el próximo Papa, pero sí podemos intuir, siquiera oscuramente, a qué desafíos habrá de enfrentarse y qué clase de dificultades entorpecerán su tarea. Aunque el teólogo católico George Weigel no aspire a responder al primer interrogante es teologo, no adivino, si arroja luz (mucha) sobre el segundo. Con la clarividencia propia de los pensadores mas solventes, enuncia uno por uno los quehaceres que el proximo pontifice no podra eludir sin infligir a la Iglesia un daño irremediable, los quehaceres que habra de acometer con firmeza de espiritu y una ciega confianza en la gracia: entre otros, el fortalecimiento del espiritu misionero, la promocion de un dialogo interreligioso que orbite en torno a la verdad y tienda a ella, el robustecimiento del papel de la Iglesia en el mundo y, en un plano mas prosaico, la renovacion de la Curia. El proximo Papa se erige asi en un texto fundamental para todo catolico al que le inquieten los problemas que hoy acechan a la Iglesia y que sienta vertigo ante un futuro aparentemente envuelto en brumas de incertidumbre.

Why do Europeans and Americans see the world so differently? Why do Europeans and Americans have such different understandings of democracy in the twenty-first century? Why is Europe dying, demographically? In The Cube and the Cathedral, George Weigel offers a penetrating critique of "Europe's problem" and draws out its lessons for the rest of the democratic world. Contrasting the civilization that produced the starkly modernist "cube" of the Great Arch of La Defense in Paris with the civilization that produced the "cathedral," Notre-Dame, Weigel argues that Europe's embrace of a narrow and cramped secularism has led to a crisis of civilizational morale that is eroding Europe's soul and failing to create the European future. Even as thoughtful Europeans and Americans wrestle with these grave issues, many European political leaders continue to insist-most recently, during the debate over a new European constitution-that only a public square shorn of religiously informed moral argument is safe for human rights and democracy. The most profound question raised by The Cube and the Cathedral is whether there can be any true "politics"-any true deliberation about the common good, and any robust defense of freedom-without God. George Weigel makes a powerful case that the answer is "No"-because, in the final analysis, societies and cultures can only be as great as their spiritual aspirations.

Recién aparecido en Estados Unidos, el último libro de George Weigel analiza lo que denomina “el problema europeo”: la confusión de democracia y secularismo. Un problema que amenaza con disolver la c

Why do Europeans and Americans see the world so differently? Why do Europeans and Americans have such different understandings of democracy and its discontents in the twenty-first century? Contrasting the civilization that produced the starkly modernist "cube" of the Great Arch of La Defense in Paris with the civilization that produced the "cathedral" of Notre-Dame, George Weigel argues that Europes embrace of a narrow secularism has led to a crisis of morale that is eroding Europes soul and threatening its future -- with dire lessons for the rest of the democratic world. Weigel traces the origins of "Europes problem" to the atheistic humanism of the nineteenth-century European intellectual life, which set in motion a historical process that produced two world wars, three totalitarian systems, the Gulag, Auschwitz, the Cold War -- and, most ominously, the Continents de-population, which is worse today than during the Black Death. And yet, many Europeans still insist -- most recently, during the debate over a new EU constitution -- that only a public square shorn of religiously-informed moral argument is safe for human rights and democracy. Precisely the opposite, Weigel suggests, is true: the people of the "cathedral" can give a compelling account of their commitment to everyones freedom; the people of the "cube" cannot. Can there be any true "politics" -- any true deliberation about the common good, and any robust defense of freedom -- without God? George Weigel makes a powerful case that the answer is "No," because, in the final analysis, societies are only as great as their spiritual aspirations.

From a preeminent authority on the Catholic Church and papal biographer, "an intimate understanding of John Paul II" (Weekly Standard) In Lessons in Hope, George Weigel tells the story of his unique friendship with St. John Paul II. As Weigel learns the pope "from inside," he also offers a firsthand account of the tumult of post-Vatican II Catholicism and the Cold Wars endgame, introducing readers to the heroes who brought down European communism. Later, he shows us the aging pope grappling with the post-9/11 world order and teaching new lessons in dignity through his own suffering. A deeply humane portrait of an eminent scholar learning a saint, Lessons in Hope is essential reading for anyone seeking a fuller understanding of a world-changing pope.

In this modern classic, a pre-eminent Catholic intellectual illuminates the faiths core beliefs and practices An engaging, lucid, and informative introduction to the teachings and traditions of Catholicism. Wall Street Journal In this remarkable exploration of the Catholic world, prominent Catholic author and papal biographer George Weigel offers a luminous collection of letters to young Catholics, not-so-young Catholics, and curious souls who wonder what it means to be Catholic today. Weigel takes readers on an epistolary tour of Catholic landmarksfrom Chartres Cathedral to St. Marys Church in Greenville, South Carolina; from the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem to G.K. Chestertons favorite pub in London; and from the grave of a modern martyr in Warsaw to the Sistine Chapel. Weaving together insights from history, literature, theology, and music, Weigel illuminates the beliefs that gave Catholicism its distinctive texture and explores the theological importance of grace, prayer, vocation, sin, forgiveness, suffering, andmost importantlylove. Letters to a Young Catholic will inspire not only the young generation of Catholics whose World Youth Day celebrations have embodied an era of renewal for the Church, but also the faithful, the doubtful, and the searchers of every age.

Un intellectuel catholique de premier plan explique pourquoi les enseignements du concile Vatican II sont essentiels pour lavenir de lÉglise et du monde. Le concile Vatican II (1962-1965) a été lévénement catholique le plus important de ces cinq cents dernieres annees. Pourtant, soixante ans apres son ouverture le 11 octobre 1962, sa signification reste fortement contestee et ses promesses non tenues. Dans cet ouvrage, George Weigel explique limportance de lenseignement de Vatican II et explore la pertinence de son enseignement dans un monde qui cherche et segare dans une fuite en avant. Les textes du Concile sont une ressource essentielle pour lEglise catholique qui vit sa vocation evangelique, centree sur le Christ. Selon lauteur, Vatican II peut veritablement constituer le modele dun catholicisme qui veut proposer un chemin vers une veritable dignite humaine et une justice sociale plus grande. Figure de proue du catholicisme aux Etats-Unis, theologien, specialiste dethique, des droits de lhomme, et des pays de lEst, Georges Weigel est distinguished senior fellow de lEPPC (Ethics and Public Policy Center) de Washington. Chroniqueur dans plusieurs journaux americains, il est notamment lauteur de LEglise de la resistance et la chute du communisme ou de Jean Paul II temoin de lesperance (J.-C. Lattes, 2005).

Comment lÉglise sest redécouverte et a lancé un défi au monde moderne pour quil se réforme Pendant une grande partie du XIXe siècle, beaucoup de laïcs et de catholiques ont pensé que lÉglise et le m

As March gave way to April in the spring of 2005 and the world kept vigil outside the apostolic palace in Rome, the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, then drawing to a poignant end, was already being described as one of the most consequential in two millennia of Christian history. With these words, world-renowned author and NBC Vatican analyst George Weigel begins his long-awaited sequel to the international bestseller Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II. More than ten years in the making, The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul IIThe Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy tells the dramatic story of the Popes battle with communism in light of new and recently disclosed information and brings to a close Weigels landmark portrait of a man who not only left an indelible mark on the Catholic Church, but also changed the course of world history. When he was elected pope in the fall of 1978, few people had ever heard of the charismatic Karol Wojtya. But in a very short time he would ignite a revolution of conscience in his native Poland that would ultimately lead to the collapse of European communism and death of the Soviet Union. What even fewer people knew was that the KGB, the Polish Secret Police, and the East German Stasi had been waging a dangerous, decades-long war against Wojtya and the Vatican itself. Weigel, with unprecedented access to many Soviet-era documents, chronicles John Pauls struggle against the dark forces of communism. Moreover, Weigel recounts the tumultuous last years of John Pauls life as he dealt with a crippling illness as well as the new world disorder and revelations about corruption within the Catholic Church. Weigels thought-provoking biography of John Paul II concludes with a probing and passionate assessment of a man who lived his life as a witness to hope in service to the Christian ideals he embraced.

History must be made to march in the direction of genuine human progress; world affairs have no intrinsic momentum that necessarily results in the victory of decency. Maintaining the morale necessary to achieving progress in history requires us to live our lives, today, against a moral horizon of responsibility that is wider and deeper than the quest for personal satisfactions. The future of our civilization does not rest merely on the advance of material wealth and technological prowess; the future of the West turns on the question of whether our spiritual aspirations are noble or base.from Faith, Reason, and the War Against JihadismMore than half a decade after 9/11, safe passage through a moment of history fraught with both peril and possibility requires Americans across the political spectrum to see things as they are.In this incisive, engaging study of the present danger and what we must do to prevail against it, George Weigel, one of Americas foremost public intellectuals, does precisely that: he sees, and describes, things as they areand as they might be. Drawing on a quarter century of experience at the intersection of moral argument and public policy, he describes rigorously and clearly the threat posed by global jihadism: the religiously inspired ideology which teaches that it is the moral obligation of all Muslims to employ whatever means are necessary to compel the worlds submission to Islam. Exploring that ideologys theological, social, cultural, and political roots, Weigel points a new direction for both public policy and interreligious dialogue, one that meets the challenge of jihadism forthrightly while creating the conditions for a less threatening, more mutually enriching encounter between Islam and the West.Essential reading in a time of momentous political decisions, Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism is a clarion call for a new seriousness of debate and a new clarity of purpose in American public life.

The Catholic Church in America is in a state of crisis. Yet few understand what the crisis really is, why it happened, or how the Church must respond to it. As no other commentator or critic has done, George Weigel situates the current crisis of sexual abuse and episcopal malfeasance in the context of recent Catholic history. With honesty and critical rigor, he reveals the Churchs failure to embrace the true spiritual promise of Vatican II, a failure that has resulted in the gradual but steady surrender to liberal culture that he dubs "Catholic Lite." Drawing upon his unparalleled knowledge of how the Church works, both in America and in Rome, Weigel exposes the patterns of dissent and self-deception that became entrenched in seminaries, among priests, and ultimately among the bishops who failed their flock by thinking like managers instead of apostles. But, Weigel reminds us, in the Biblical world a "crisis" is a time of great opportunity, an invitation to deeper faith. Every great crisis of the Churchs past, from the Dark Ages to the Reformation, has resulted in a period of reform that returned the Church-and its priesthood-to its roots. Weigel sets forth an agenda for genuine reform that challenges seminarians, priests, bishops, and the laity to lead more integrally Catholic lives. As he argues so persuasively, the answer to the present crisis will not be found in "Catholic Lite" but in classic Catholicism: a Catholicism that has reclaimed the wisdom of the past in order to face the corruptions of the present and create a strong future.

A leading Catholic intellectual explains why the teachings of the Second Vatican Council are essential to the Churchs futureand the worldsThe Second Vatican Council (19621965) was the most important Catholic event in the past five hundred years. Yet sixty years after its opening on October 11, 1962, its meaning remains sharply contested and its promise unfulfilled.In To Sanctify the World, George Weigel explains the necessity of Vatican II and explores the continuing relevance of its teaching in a world seeking a deeper experience of freedom than personal willfulness. The Councils texts are also a critical resource for the Catholic Church as it lives out its original, Christ-centered evangelical purpose.Written with insight and verve, To Sanctify the World recovers the true meaning of Vatican II as the template for a Catholicism that can propose a path toward genuine human dignity and social solidarity.

A powerful new interpretation of Catholicisms dramatic encounter with modernity, by one of Americas leading intellectuals Throughout much of the nineteenth century, both secular and Catholic leaders assumed that the Church and the modern world were locked in a battle to the death. The triumph of modernity would not only finish the Church as a consequential player in world history; it would also lead to the death of religious conviction. But today, the Catholic Church is far more vital and consequential than it was 150 years ago. Ironically, in confronting modernity, the Catholic Church rediscovered its evangelical essence. In the process, Catholicism developed intellectual tools capable of rescuing the imperiled modern project. A richly rendered, deeply learned, and powerfully argued account of two centuries of profound change in the church and the world, The Irony of Modern Catholic History reveals how Catholicism offers twenty-first century essential truths for our survival and flourishing.

The Catholic Church is on the threshold of a bold new era in its two-thousand year history. As the curtain comes down on the Church defined by the 16th-century Counter-Reformation, the curtain is rising on the Evangelical Catholicism of the third millennium: a way of being Catholic that comes from over a century of Catholic reform; a mission-centered renewal honed by the Second Vatican Council and given compelling expression by Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. The Gospel-centered Evangelical Catholicism of the future will send all the people of the Church into mission territory every day -- a territory increasingly defined in the West by spiritual boredom and aggressive secularism. Confronting both these cultural challenges and the shadows cast by recent Catholic history, Evangelical Catholicism unapologetically proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the truth of the world. It also molds disciples who witness to faith, hope, and love by the quality of their lives and the nobility of their aspirations. Thus the Catholicism of the 21st century and beyond will be a culture-forming counterculture, offering all men and women of good will a deeply humane alternative to the soul-stifling self-absorption of postmodernity. Drawing on thirty years of experience throughout the Catholic world, from its humblest parishes to its highest levels of authority, George Weigel proposes a deepening of faith-based and mission-driven Catholic reform that touches every facet of Catholic life -- from the episcopate and the papacy to the priesthood and the consecrated life; from the renewal of the lay vocation in the world to the redefinition of the Churchs engagement with public life; from the liturgy to the Churchs intellectual life. Lay Catholics and clergy alike should welcome the challenge of this unique moment in the Churchs history, Weigel urges. Mediocrity is not an option, and all Catholics, no matter what their station in life, are called to live the evangelical vocation into which they were baptized: without compromise, but with the joy, courage, and confidence that comes from living this side of the Resurrection.

Numa ambiciosa incursão pelo mundo católico, George Weigel, destacado autor e biógrafo papal, oferece-nos neste livro uma inspirada coleção de cartas dirigidas aos católicos mais novos e menos novos,