The 2017 winners of the Ratzinger Prize visited with Benedict XVI yesterday, Nov. 17, at his Mater Ecclesiae residence. From left, Fr. Menke, composer Pärt, B16, theologian Dieter, and Fr.Lombardi, Foundation president.
Pope Francis on 2017 Ratzinger Prize winners:
‘They have dedicated their life to the diaconate of truth’
by Luca Caruso
Translated from
VATICAN CITY, November 18, 2017 – “The diaconate of truth is the highest mission” to which, like Benedict XVI who chose his episcopal motto ‘Cooperatores veritatis’ (Co-workers for the Truth) from the Third Letter of St. John, the three personalities who are getting the 2017 Ratzinger Prize for Theology today have dedicated their lives.
This was the focus of the address by Pope Francis at the ceremony this morning at which he handed out the prizes to Lutheran theologian Theodor Dieter of Germany; Fr. Karl-Heinz Menke, also of Germany; and Christian Orthodox composer Arvo Pärt of Estonia at the Sala Clementina of the Apostolic Palace.
The Pope also addressed ‘his affectionate and intense thoughts’ to his predecessor,, Pope Benedict XVI, recalling that “his prayers and his presence accompany us on our common path; his work and his magisterium continue to be a living and precious legacy for the Church and for our ministry”.
Thus, he called on the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation “to continue his commitment, by studying and deepening this legacy,while at the same time looking forward to validate its fruitfulness through the exegesis of Joseph Ratzinger’s works, and to continue, in his spirit, in its theological and cultural research even into new themes in which our culture today requires faith and dialog”.
“The human spirit,” he said, “needs this dialog, and so does the faith which is alienated if it is not embodied in time. It is needed by reason which is dehumanized if it is not elevated to the Transcendent”.
The Pope appreciated the fact that “the illustrious personalities who are receiving the Prize today come from three Christian confessions, including the Lutherans
with whom this year we are living very important moments of encounter and a common path". [He had to work that in, of course!]
“The truth of Christ”, he said, “is not just for ‘soloists’ – it is symphonic: it requires collaboration and requires sharing. To seek, study, contemplate and translate it in charity forcefully draws us towards unity among ourselves. And truth becomes a living source of ever stronger love”.
The pope welcomed the idea of enriching the Ratzinger Prize by not limiting it only to theology but to other fields of study that contribute to Christian spiritual life.
In his introductory address, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, president of the Fondazione Vaticana Joseph Ratzinger-Benedetto XVI, explained that “The activities of the Foundation in the past year were very intense because of the 90th birthday of the Emeritus Pope, for which many people drew closer to him and many initiatives underscored the interest for his cultural and spiritual legacy”.
Among these initiatives, Fr. Lombardi highlighted:
- The publication of the Italian edition of two volumes from Joseph Rtazinger’s COMPLETE WRITINGS . by the Vatican publishing house
- The theological-culturall symposium to be held Novem 28- Dec 1 at the Universidad Católica de Costa Rica on the subject “Laudato si’ – La cura della ‘casa comune’, una conversione necessaria all’ecologia umana”.
- Collaboration with the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria of Madrid in pursuit of Joseph Ratzinger’s idea of ‘open reason’, which includes awarding prizes for metitorious investigative studies and university courses on the topic, to underscore the dialog of the scientific disciplines with philosophy, morality and faith.
Fr. Lombardi concluded by saying that the Foundation “intends to promote a theology and culture that serious, profound and living, along the path of the Church and her history. In this case, our teachers are the three men whom we are presenting to you today with a reward for their work of many years”.
He added a special word of thanks and commemoration for Manlio Simonetti, one of the first 3 Ratzinger Prize winners in 2011 who died in Rome on November 2. Born in 1926, he was a Patristics scholar who taught at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and the Augustinian Patristic Institute of Rome.
Benedict XVI said of him at the 2011 awards rite, "Professor Simonetti has approached the world of the Fathers in a new way, showing us with accuracy and care, what the Fathers say from the historical viewpoint; they become our contemporaries who speak to us."
Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and a member of the Fondazione’s scientific committee which chose the prizewinners this year, spoke of the three awardees and why they were chosen.
An unusual part of the program was the performance by Prize winner Arvo Pärt of his work ‘Pater noster’ which he composed in 2011 for the 60th anniversary of Joseph Ratzinger’s priestly ordination. He played it on Benedict XVI’s personal piano. The soloist was from the Voci Binache choir of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecicilia.
Brief musical interludes were aso provided by the Sistine Chapel choir under the diection of Maestro Massimo Palombella.
November 15, 2017
Ordinariate liturgy expert
visits the father of the Ordinariates
Left, the Emeritus pope with his guest; right, Prof. Feulner is decorated with the Order of St. Gregory the Great at the Papal Nunciature in Vienna in May 2015 by Mons. Stephen Lopez, who heads the Ordinariate for the USA and Canada.
The left photo comes from LA VIGNA DEL SIGNORE, via Beatrice and Gloria, but with little information. However, Beatrice found a 2015 article about Prof. Feulner on a site since absorbed into the website of the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society, an association founded in 2004 to provide independent support to the Ordinariates, foster relations among the members of the farflung churches of the three existing Ordinariates so far and promote their activities. Here is part of the article:
Professor Feulner was one of the first friends of Ordinariate Expats in Europe and he has been one of our trustiest members, regularly keeping us in the loop regarding the progress in the work on the liturgy.
Hans-Jürgen Feulner, born on February 22, 1965 in Kronach, Germany, attained a first class Licenciate of Theology degree from the University of Munich in 1992. His highly regarded and published thesis was on the Anglican Ordinal. He immediately began an academic career at the University of Tübingen, where he obtained his Doctorate in 1998 on “The Armenian Athanasius-Anaphora”.
He has been Professor of Liturgy and Sacramental Theology in the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna since September 2002. From the beginning Professor Feulner has enjoyed international renown, not least because of his Licentiate thesis. Owing to his expertise in the field of Anglican Ordination Liturgy he was even appointed an extraordinary member of the Liturgical Commission of the Church of England for the revision of the Ordination rite.
Professor Feulner has been a good friend of the Anglican Use for many years, and has visited the United States and elsewhere frequently to speak at conferences and seminars and to encourage the former Anglican communities before and especially since the establishment of the Ordinariate.
His enthusiasm for and commitment to the Anglican Use led to his appointment as a cradle Catholic with a profound knowledge of Anglican liturgy to the Anglicanae Traditiones commission, where he has been working tirelessly to develop the Ordinariate Use “Divine Worship”, which he believes should still properly be called the Anglican Use liturgy.
It was for this work that Prof. Feulner and Dr. Clifton Brand of Texas were invested by Pope Francis in December 2014 into the Order of St. Gregory the Great. [One of the five Orders of Knighthood bestowed by the Holy See, the honor goes to Roman Catholic lay and women (in rare cases to non-Catholics) in recognition of their personal service to the Holy See and to the Roman Catholic Church, through their unusual labors, their support of the Holy See, and the excellent examples they set in their communities and their countries.] [I wonder who was responsible for bringing the names of Feulner and Brand to whoever recommends these honors to the pope. I hardly think the Ordinariate liturgy would be of particular interest to him.]
So, there's one place Latin is still used pro forma at the Vatican!
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/11/2017 01:38]