St John Henry Newman (1801-1890), one of the greatest Christian thinkers of the West, was numbered among the Doctors of the Church by Pope Leo XIV on 1 November 2025.

A passionate seeker of truth and a convert to Catholicism (1845), he “today becomes an ever brighter beacon for all who are seeking an informed orientation and sure guidance amid the uncertainties of the modern world” (Pope Paul VI, Address to the participants in the Cardinal Newman Academic Symposium, 7 April 1975. His works enrich theology, his journey enlightens consciences and his person is already venerated throughout the Church.

This easy-to-read volume offers a brief biographical and theological portrait of Newman. It then makes his clear and balanced voice heard on several crucial questions of ecclesial life: the development of doctrine, the witness of the faithful, the unicity of the Church, the significance of conscience and the characteristics of an apostle.

What comes forth is the extraordinary relevance of the life and thought of this theologian and saint. As then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote in 1990: “Newman belongs to the greatest teachers of the Church, because he both touches our hearts and enlightens our thinking” (Presentation on the occasion of the first centenary of the death of Cardinal John Henry Newman, 28 April 1990).