Pope Benedict XVI: His Life and Mission

This accessible and generally balanced biography by Mansfield, a Protestant, offers a superficial introduction to Joseph Ratzinger for readers who are curious about the controversial new pope. After a slow beginning in which Mansfield flirts dangerously with hagiography and relies uncritically and almost exclusively on the pope's own autobiographical account of his early years, the book picks up with a strong examination of his war record. Mansfield finds that Ratzinger, who has been depicted by some pundits as a Nazi sympathizer, was forced to join the Hitler Youth as a teen and was involuntarily conscripted into military service in 1943. He was ideologically opposed to Nazism and eventually deserted his unit. This part of the book is striking in its evenhandedness, with Mansfield bending over backwards to describe how many German Catholics' initial acceptance of Hitler as a political leader turned to fear and dismay as the dictator revealed his true colors. Mansfield's commitment to fairness extends to the chapter on Ratzinger's leadership of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), in which he suggests that Ratzinger, far from being the snarling Rottweiler of political cartoons, is more of a German Shepherd who ""sees himself as the caretaker of a sacred tradition."" Although the writing is often pedestrian, Mansfield's depiction of a kinder, gentler pope offers a brief and inviting portrait of a new world leader.