Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger
By John L. Allen Jr. Continuum (New York, 2000 and 2005).
340 pp., $19.95.

The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church
By John L. Allen Jr. Doubleday/Random House (New York, 2005). 249 pp., $19.95.

Pope Benedict XVI: A Personal Portrait
By Heinz-Joachim Fischer. Crossroad (New York, 2005). 213 pp., $19.95.

In the Vineyard of the Lord:
The Life, Faith and Teachings of Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI
By Marco Bardazzi. Rizzoli (New York, 2005). 138 pp., $16.95.

On April 19, 2005, when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, he referred to himself as "a simple and humble worker in the Lord's vineyard," a self-description at odds with the public image of the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

As a young man (he was 35 when the Second Vatican Council opened in 1962) then-Father Ratzinger was part of an influential and some would say liberal group of theological advisers to Cologne Cardinal Joseph Frings. Later, as a cardinal and Curia official, he would take what many saw as much different positions on issues like collegiality, the role of national bishops' conferences, liturgical change and church discipline.

He has been more consistent than many people realize. As early as 1965, he expressed "trepidation that the council's overly optimistic embrace of 'the world' left it somewhat blind to the reality of sin." An awareness of the reality of sin and the necessity to maintain the church's supernatural teachings was the coherent center of his work at the doctrinal congregation.

John Allen's "Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger" (originally published in 2000 and re-released in 2005) explores the intellectual influences and career of the pope. Allen, the Vatican correspondent for National Catholic Reporter, is a "child of Vatican II" whose Catholic formation and practice was of a church "faithful but evolving, open to dissent, engaged with society." Rather than treat the cardinal as the stereotypical opponent of that church, Allen has written a judicious biography of the future pope.

While offering glimpses of a man blessed with abundant intellectual and personal gifts, the book's focus is on Cardinal Ratzinger, a "decided Augustinian," as a church leader. In striking ways he recapitulates Augustine's experience of early speculative theological work "interrupted by his nomination as a bishop, and for the rest of his career his thought was formed on an ad hoc basis by the practical need to fight various heresies."

Allen examines Cardinal Ratzinger's actions, logic and motivations in the congregation's investigation of liberation theology, the relationship between the magisterium and theologians, and between Rome and local bishops, religious pluralism and ecumenism, social issues (homosexuality, women) and changes in liturgical language and practice. In most cases Allen's sympathies are with those who are being investigated, but he presents Cardinal Ratzinger's theological stance in a way that respects the cogency and logic of his arguments.

Given the time constraints under which it was written, Allen's post-conclave book, "The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church," is less substantial. It is well-written journalism but occasionally veers into gossip. Where the earlier book suggested that Cardinal Ratzinger could not be elected pope, this work explains why that conclusion was erroneous.

In "Pope Benedict XVI: A Personal Portrait," Heinz-Joachim Fischer, a theologically trained German journalist, writes about the pope from the perspective of 30 years of professional (he is a Vatican journalist for a daily newspaper) and personal conversation and observation. In his distinctive digressive and ruminative style, Fischer offers an important European perspective on a man ("both resolute and personally modest") he admires and likes.

Fischer has experienced Cardinal Ratzinger's ability "to kindle enthusiasm, to win assent, to provoke objections and contrary arguments.... If I can say that I have sometimes glimpsed the unbending harshness ... it was in his allergy against all the folly that is spread abroad in the church and the world."

Fischer is particularly good at understanding the legacy of Cardinal Ratzinger's Bavarian Catholic childhood, which engendered a love for the beauty of orthodoxy. This, Fischer believes, "is the basis on which his whole life is built, and a gift that others did not receive. It has given him a wholly natural devotedness to the church, which his critics probably cannot genuinely feel."

This is a fine work that, unfortunately, feels padded. It concludes with five appendices (11 pages on "The Roman Popes and the Benedicts" and 12 on the cardinal-electors of 2005), reprinted homilies and the recapitulation of the now-standard story of the conclave.

New York-based Italian journalist Marco Bardazzi lets his admiration for the pope slide into fawning in his short book, "In the Vineyard of the Lord: The Life, Faith and Teachings of Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI." Bardazzi's exercise in premature hagiography is worsened by a gleeful, almost blithe dismissal and caricature of the cardinal's critics. It is an unnecessary glorification of a man who "will not preside over a pontificate of small plans."

Rachelle Linner, a librarian and writer, lives in Boston. She has a master of theological studies degree from Weston Jesuit School of Theology.