In the last months of his long life, Cardinal Konig expressed the wish to record what was most important as a way forward for the Church and for Christians generally. At a time when the Austrian Church was rocked by scandal (paedophile priests, pornography in seminaries, the corpse of a dead priest floating down the Danube) this wise and holy man has been and will continue to be seen as a man of quite exceptional importance.
The book, all written in the first person, is concerned with openness - that openness advocated by John XXIII when he talked of opening the windows of the Church to the modern world. In this Cardinal Konig was a pioneer and his influence on Vatican II was crucial.
In this very personal book, Konig often talks of people he met and corresponded with, and his experiences on extensive travels behind what was then termed The Iron Curtain. There is also a beautiful chapter on personal prayer - the all important personal dialogue with God.
He recounts how he learned a great deal from a Parsee family in Bombay and talks of his conversations with God in the last years of his life.
At a time when religion is so often a cause of dissent, conflict and even murder, Konig's views on dialogue with other Christians and other religions have a particular pertinence and will be seen to be prophetic.
Cardinal Franz Konig was Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna and one of the architects of Vatican II. A frequent contributor to The Tablet, he was much admired throughout the English-speaking world. He died in May 2004.
