(Aleteia) Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has at least five important qualities or gifts that ensures that he continues to be an important voice in Catholic thought, said a theologian who was awarded a prize named for the German pontiff and theologian.
“I would say that he really understands Western culture,” said Tracey Rowland, one of two recipients for this year’s Ratzinger Prize for theology. The other recipient is French philosopher and Catholic theologian Jean-Luc Marion, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School and a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture. Marion, a former student of the 20th-century philosopher Jacques Derrida, is a member of the Académie française, and is associated with the idea of “saturated phenomena,” according to Catholic News Agency.
Rowland, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia, said that Benedict’s “understanding of secularism and cultural Marxism is deep. He can therefore write in such a way that young people reading him feel as though he understands the pathologies of the culture into which they have been born.”
Pope Francis announced the award recipients October 1. The prize, which began in 2010, is awarded in three areas: the study of sacred Scripture, patristics and theology. Rowland and Marrion will receive the award in a November 14 ceremony.
Tej Francis
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