God's Choice

After 25 years as Pope, John Paul II is no longer the dynamic and energetic pontiff he was when first elected. As his health begins to fail, Catholics around the world wonder who can possibly take the place of this charismatic leader. At the same time, the Church itself is going through changes; Europe and the United States are no longer the strongholds of Catholicism they once were, and Latin America becomes the new center of the world's Catholic population.

George Weigel, the bestselling author of Witness to Hope, draws on his unprecedented access to the Vatican to tell the story of the election of Pope Benedict XVI following John Paul II's death. At the same time, he gives readers a candid look at the state of the Catholic Church in the twenty-first century, and the hurdles it must overcome to remain vital in today's society. God's Choice is an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand the current state of Catholicism, and the Church's role in shaping the future.

George Weigel, a Roman Catholic theologian and one of the world's leading authorities on the Catholic Church, is the author of the international bestseller Witness to Hope: The Biography of John Paul II, as well as The Cube and the Cathedral, Letters to a Young Catholic, The Courage to Be Catholic and The Truth of Catholicism. A Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and a consultant on Vatican affairs for NBC News, Weigel's weekly column, "The Catholic Difference," is syndicated to newspapers across the United States. George Weigel lives with his wife and family in North Bethesda, Maryland.

"A brilliant and important book."

- Philadelphia Inquirer