My days with Benedict XVI

Alfred Xuereb has been, perhaps, the shadow of the shadow. This Maltese, currently Apostolic Nuncio to Morocco, served as second secretary to Pope Benedict XVI from 2007 to 2013, after the resignation of Joseph Ratzinger. In a book - diary, the bishop collects some of his main memories of his years at the side of the Bavarian Pope. 

In this book, beautifully edited by Palabra and illustrated by hundreds of photographs, many of them little known and even unpublished, Xuereb reviews conversations with Benedict XVI or with his immediate superior, Msgr. Georg Ganswein. In his pages there are anecdotes full of humor, closeness and familiarity with the Holy Father during his time at the head of the Church. Xuereb recalls, for example, Pope Ratzinger's well-known love of music, his fondness for cats (even though he never had one) and amusing humorous touches about small details of daily life and work. 

The story, written with the vividness of the most recent memories, also delves into the backroom of key moments in Ratzinger's life: the suffering of a Pope who decided to step aside when he became aware of his physical limitations and the months full of tension; also the Pope's suffering in the face of problems generated by a misinterpretation of his words or misunderstandings, such as the Regensburg episode. Along with these perhaps better known episodes, Xuereb also recounts small tests of fortitude to which the Pope reacted in a surprising way, as when a small fire burned a nativity scene belonging to the Ratzinger family and to which Benedict XVI was particularly fond of. The delicate dealings with his older brother, or the Pope's concern that both he and the first secretary could attend to their families and the details with the Mémores Domini who attended him are also a constant in a book that is a pleasure to read and contemplate as a family photo album. 

A book accessible to all levels of reading and that will especially appeal to those who have followed the life and work of Pope Benedict XVI, thanks to which new details of his figure and his pontificate are extracted that underpin the idea of a papacy led by one of the most privileged heads of the XX -XXI century together with an unforgettable humility and closeness to God.