The following comes from an Oct. 26 story on Vatican Information Service.
This morning in the Sala Clementina of the Vatican Apostolic Palace Pope Francis awarded the Ratzinger Prize, granted by the Vatican Foundation: Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI, to the Rev. Richard Burridge, Anglican minister and deacon of King’s College, London, and to the German theologian Christian Schaller, layperson, lecturer in dogmatic theology and vice director of the Benedict XVI Institute in Regensburg, Germany, which is publishing critical editions of Joseph Ratzinger’s full works.
The symposium, always organised by the foundation, took place at the Lateran University in Rome from 24 to 26 October, and studied the theme “The Gospel: history and Christology”, taking Joseph Ratzinger’s works as a starting point.
Pope Francis: “I thank you, and am happy to meet with you, especially as a sign of our recognition and of our great affection for Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. I would like to share with you a reflection, which comes to me spontaneously when I think of the truly unique gift that he has given the Church in his books on Jesus of Nazareth.
“I recall that when the first volume came out, some people said: what is this? A Pope doesn’t write books on theology, he writes encyclicals! … Certainly, Pope Benedict had considered this problem, but also in this case, as always, he followed the voice of the Lord in his enlightened conscience. With these books, he did not offer teaching in the strict sense of the word, and he did not produce an academic study. He gave a gift to the Church, and to all humanity, of what was most precious to him: his knowledge of Jesus, the fruit of years and years of study, of prayer, of theological investigation, and he made it available in the most accessible form”.
He continued, “No one can measure the good he has done by means of this gift; only the Lord knows! But we all have a certain perception of this, having listened to so many people who, thanks to these books on Jesus of Nazareth, have nurtured and deepened their faith, or have indeed drawn close to Christ for the first time, as adults, bringing the demands of reason alongside their search for the face of God.
“At the same time, the work of Benedict XVI has stimulated a new era of study of the Gospels, between history and Christology, and our symposium, for which I congratulate the organisers and speakers, forms a part of this”.
The Holy Father concluded by congratulating the recipients of this year’s prize, also in the name of his predecessor.
To read the original story, click here.
Thank you Pope Francis for these words of wisdom.
Kenneth Fisher, it seems that the Anglican Rev. Burridge has not “crossed the Tiber” yet from what I see on line. Let us pray that he does if his books are so pro Catholic Church. After all, John Henry Cardinal Newman “crossed the Tiber” when he was still officially in heresy or in schism; I am not sure which. If he had previously been ordained by an Orthodox bishop, he was only in schism and not in heresy. It gets very complicated with the Anglicans; they are so similar with Rome.
Remember, too, Kenneth Fisher, that some of the martyrs who died with St. Charles Lwanga of Africa were Anglicans — a modern day version of the “Good Samaritans”. (They got Christ’s message even when some of his own Catholics still do not.)