VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The third volume of Pope Benedict XVI’s book on Jesus of Nazareth should be published before Christmas, the Vatican said.

The volume, focusing on the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ infancy and childhood, will be the third and final volume in the series of books the pope has written “to make known the figure and message of Jesus,” the Vatican said in a statement Sept. 21.

The statement announced a Vatican publishing house agreement with the Italian publisher Rizzoli to handle sales of the rights to the book in languages other than Italian and the German original.

Pope Benedict XVI has finished the third volume of his opus, “Jesus of Nazareth,” and perhaps also will publish an encyclical letter during the upcoming Year of Faith, said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state.

“It is a great gift for the Year of Faith,” the cardinal told reporters in Les Combes di Introd, a village in Italy’s northwestern Alps where Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict have vacationed in the past.

The press office did not comment on a possible new encyclical.

However, many observers expect there to be a document focusing on the virtue of faith to complete a series of Pope Benedict’s reflections on the theological virtues.

The pope has called for a special Year of Faith, which will open Oct. 11 – the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council – and run through Nov. 24, 2013.

Jesus of Nazareth Diocesan Retreat Center will be the name of the new diocesan retreat center, set to open in the former Xaverian Brothers’ residence at Nazareth Regional H.S., Flatbush, this September.
Auxiliary Bishop Frank J. Caggiano made the announcement to members of the Spanish-speaking Cursillo Movement during a Mass celebrating the feast of St. James at St. Paul’s Church, Cobble Hill, on July 25.