NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2005--HarperCollins will publish a new book about the end of Pope John Paul II's life and the beginning of a new era for the Catholic Church by George Weigel, Roman Catholic theologian and author of Witness to Hope: The Biography of John Paul II, which became an international bestseller upon its publication in 1999.

Weigel's as yet untitled new book, to be published later this year, will examine the death of the pope and the Church he left behind, while also offering an unparalleled inside account of the election of the next pope. With his unique access and experience, Weigel plans to provide an in-depth portrait of this key figure who will lead the Church into the 21st century, and a challenging analysis of the issues he and the people of the Church will confront.

"No writer today has a better understanding of the papacy than George Weigel," says Tim Duggan, Executive Editor at HarperCollins. "I'm absolutely certain that he will provide a rich, illuminating account that stands as the defining chronicle of this next phase in the Church's history."

In addition to Witness to Hope, Weigel is the author of The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God, Letters to a Young Catholic, The Courage to Be Catholic, and The Truth of Catholicism, among several other books. A Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and a consultant on Vatican affairs for NBC News, Weigel's weekly column, "The Catholic Difference," is syndicated to newspapers across the United States. George Weigel lives with his wife and family in North Bethesda, Maryland.

HarperCollins is one of the leading English-language publishers in the world and is a subsidiary of News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV). Headquartered in New York, the company has publishing groups in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australasia. Its publishing groups include the HarperCollins General Books Group, HarperCollins Children's Books Group, Zondervan, HarperCollins UK, HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins Australia/New Zealand and HarperCollins India. You can visit HarperCollins Publishers on the Internet at http://www.harpercollins.com.