"The 'Compendium', which I now present to the Universal Church, is a faithful and sure synthesis of the 'Catechism of the Catholic Church'. It contains, in concise form, all the essential and fundamental elements of the Church's faith, thus constituting, as my Predecessor had wished, a kind of 'vademecum' which allows believers and non-believers alike to behold the entire panorama of the Catholic faith." Pope Benedict XVI. [from back cover]