The present volume contains the text of an interview with Hans Urs von Balthasar conducted in 1986 by then Father Angelo Scola. Of this undertaking, Balthasar writes that “to be interviewed by a good friend — and Don Angelo Scola certainly is such a one — is both pleasure and pain. Pleasure, because one can speak directly from the heart, touching upon one’s deepest concerns, and pain, because it has to be done in such a brief and hence imprecise manner. . . . Much will have to be said that sounds harsh; may I be pardoned for this and may it be attributed to my shortsightedness. Or, if you will, to my age and backwardness, which show little relish for the latest novelties. Or again, to my love for a Church that has endured for two millennia, has retained her vigor throughout and thus was not born suddenly as a ‘post-conciliar’ Church. . . . Let the kind reader refrain from weighing every one of my words with a gold-scale. Let him rather pick a nugget here or there, if he comes across one. And finally, let him bear in mind that the questions raised here are viewed from an Italian perspective, reflecting the specific interests of the Church in that country.” (From the author’s Foreword)