Vatican City - Pope Benedict presented a new summary of the Roman Catholic Catechism on Tuesday, with a question-and-answer format aimed at making the doctrine "accessible to all."
The 205-page "Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church" lays down Church teaching on everything from the creation of man to the protection of embryos in a book that has already caused some controversy in Italy.
"The demand has been growing for a catechism in summary, in brief, that contained all of and only the essential and fundamental elements of the Catholic faith and morality," the pope said at a ceremony in the Vatican's Clementina room.
He said it was formatted "in a simple manner, accessible to all."
The book, which comes in a pocket-size version and a slightly larger edition, is not a new Catechism but a synthesis that "faithfully mirrors" the Catechism published in 1992.
It has been published just in time for the Church's World Youth Day, to be held in Germany in August, which will mark Benedict's first papal trip abroad since his election in April.
One of Benedict's biggest challenges is keeping young people interested in the Church as his predecessor John Paul did.
By employing the question-and-answer format, long used in the traditional U.S. Baltimore Catechism for primary schools, the Vatican hopes to make it more accessible and engaging for the faithful of all ages.
Most questions review the Ten Commandments and traditional Biblical teachings, such as "What is heaven?" but they also address more contemporary concerns, maintaining the Vatican's conservative stance on issues like marriage.
The compendium says the "true nature of marriage," which it defines as a union between a man and a woman, "must be protected and favored."
The sections on the protection of embryos and artificial insemination have already made headlines in the Italian media.
"Why should society protect embryos?" reads question number 472 of the Compendium. "The inalienable right of every human individual, from the point of conception, is a constitutive element of civil society and its legislation," it says.
The late Pope John Paul set up a commission in 2003 charged with drawing up a Compendium. That commission was overseen by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger -- now Pope Benedict.
The Compendium also includes an appendix with common prayers in Latin, an attempt to encourage its use as a kind of common religious language that all can share.