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This article presents the dialogues of J. Ratzinger-Benedict XVI with three prominent atheists: Paolo Flores d'Arcais (2000), Jürgen Habermas (2004) and Piergiorgio Odifreddi (2013- 2021). Benedict XVI is convinced that confrontation with secular reason is a requirement of faith, which benefits from such dialogue. At the same time, it denounces the pathologies of reason and invites it to be self-critical. J. Ratzinger surprises by choosing with precision the questions with which he intends to get to the very heart of the world views that he seeks to criticize and demonstrates, at the same time, the reasonable nature of the believing option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study considers how Joseph Ratzinger focusses the whole of theology in a Christocentric way. His Christocentrism is not opposed to its being theocentric, because when the believer contemplates Jesus Christ in his works and actions and attitudes, he finds, indeed he sees, not only the concrete, material, historical humanity of Jesus, but his true identity as the Son of God in the Spirit. One learns to read the mystery of God in the very history of Jesus. The study presents a series of moments in the life of Jesus in Ratzinger's work Jesus of Nazareth (2007-2013): the miracles, the kingdom of God, the prayer of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount and conversion, the Baptism of Jesus and his temptations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joseph Ratzinger gave a conference at the University of Navarra, on January 31, 1998, in which he addressed, from a new and disturbing perspective, the question about the condition of theological science. His thesis was that both speculative reason and historical course constitute interior and necessary moments of theological work. In this way he challenged the views of Adolf von Harnack. He warned, however, of the risk that both could devastate the Word and, with it, theology. He appealed, as a guarantee of security, to the special assistance of the Holy Spirit to his Church, because the ecclesiastical authority could also err in his work and could manifest itself arbitrarily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay addresses Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini, which explained authoritatively the three central principles of Catholic scriptural interpretation found in the Vatican II constitution Dei Verbum. In Verbum Domini, much of Benedict’s prior work as a private theologian gained a magisterial voice. Hence, this essay will engage both with Verbum Domini and Benedict’s previous writings. For Benedict, theology is more than information. When practiced as a “spiritual science,” theology is a real contact with the living Word. The authors of scripture are, accordingly, “normative theologians.” The real contact with the living Word contained in scripture is most profoundly mediated by the Church’s liturgy. The biblical Word’s liturgical setting is the source of its theological normativity. Thus, for Benedict, the performativity of the Word implies a unity between Scripture and liturgy, and the resultant normativity of the Word implies a unity between Scripture and theology. Without these unities, and the life of continuous conversion that flows from their recognition, there can be no theology in the true sense of the word. If these unities are recognized, however, the task of the theologian becomes letting God himself “speak”—to be the servant or handmaiden of revelation.

The subject of this article is the Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI trilogy on Jesus of Nazareth. Central to the analysis is an attempt to reconstruct the place and role of metaphysics in the Pope’s analysis and, more broadly, in his understanding of biblical hermeneutics. One of the central ambitions of our author was to develop an integral method of reading and understanding Scripture, in which historicalcritical, metaphysical and dogmatic themes presuppose and complement each other. The article first examines the modalities of the appearance of metaphysical threads in Benedict XVI’s meditations, then analyzes his understanding of prayer in a metaphysical key, and finally sketches the concept of a new human being made possible by the work of Jesus and needing metaphysical categories to be fully described. Thus, it turns out that Ratzinger was able to show a truly biblical metaphysics in Jesus of Nazareth and prove that metaphysical thinking is not at odds with the assumptions of the historical-critical method, if the latter, of course, is not understood in a reductionist manner and in accordance with modern prejudices. In this way, I argue, Ratzinger sketches in his trilogy an integral theological method for reading the biblical text and ultimately synthesizes the biblical, metaphysical and dogmatic approaches.

Reseña del libro Ratzinger y los filósofos. De Platón a Vattimo, de Alejandro Sada, Tracey Rowland y Rudy Albino de Assunçao.

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"Truth" is a key concept in the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI. It appears in a number of contexts throughout his publications. This paper summarises some 9 critical couplets where the concept of truth forms part of the couplet.

Siguiendo los escritos más filosóficos de Ratzinger en su crítica a la filosofía moderna, presentamos sintéticamente las grandes líneas de pensamiento que, según el teólogo alemán, gestaron la situación actual respecto de la relación entre la fe y la filosofía, y su preocupación por la hegemonía del pensamiento técnico por sobre otras formas del saber que relegaron la fe al ámbito de lo irracional. En las sociedades occidentales, los prejuicios de corte positivista y cientificista sobre la fe, así como su reducción a un sentimiento religioso, siguen vigentes. Por ello, profundizar sobre el tema no solamente nos enriquece con la originalidad de uno de los intelectuales europeos más significativos del siglo XX, sino que nos impulsa a repensar, más allá de todo reduccionismo, el lugar de la fe y de la religión en la reflexión filosófica y en el diálogo con las ciencias.

Joseph Ratzinger es conocido por su competencia en materia litúrgica. El presente artículo ofrece una presentación sintética de su Teología de la liturgia, en la que se pueden percibir implicancias espirituales y pastorales. La introducción muestra el origen biográfico del amor que el teólogo alemán tiene por la celebración del misterio. El desarrollo sigue un recorrido trinitario en que se habla de la liturgia como obra de Cristo, don del Padre y culto en el Espíritu Santo. La conclusión propone, junto con Ratzinger, que la liturgia no sea un ámbito más de la Teología, sino una dimensión que la atraviese por completo.

Christianity was at odds with modernity and enlightenment for centuries. In the 20th century Catholic theology sought a reconciliation, which bore fruit at Vatican II. Here we study Ratzinger's views on the relationship of Christianity to modernity and enlightenment. In this respect we establish three stages in his academic career: 1°) from 1951 to 1967 he lays the theological foundations, but does not address the question thematically; 2°) from 1967 onwards he establishes that Christianity can and must take up the substantial claims of modernity and enlightenment, since they belong to the essence of the Christian faith; at the same time he strongly criticises some concrete aspects of one and the other; 3°) from 1990 onwards he gives further depth to the thesis on the substantial acceptance of enlightenment. Ratzinger's main contribution is the following: the role of reason in faith (which is a central aspect of his theology) leads to the concord of Christianity with the intellectual reviews of the Enlightenment; reason and faith purify and illuminate each other. Here we focus on the acceptance, and at the end we will present the criticisms more briefly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The present article aims to show that at the heart of the issue about the interactions between science and religion lies a question of rationality, as Joseph Ratzinger has shown, and that the problem between science and religion can be resolved by clarifying the object and meaning of both. To do this, I will begin by stating the epistemological situation of science and religion after modernity. Next, I will explain the three interaction paradigms: proposed by Barbour, Gould, and Peacocke. I will also show how Ratzinger's proposal could complement, integrate or correct those proposals which would seem partial under the paradigm of rationality. I seek to show that a reading of Rateinger's thought allows us to explain the problem of science and religion in terms that go beyond the dialogic perspective, to pose them existentially and vitally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ratzinger's philosophy of law – A personalistic perspective: On 31 December 2022, Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope Benedict XVI, died. The relationship between faith and reason is central in his work. Less well known is his personalistic concept of law. According to Ratzinger, the person is fundamentally a relational and reasonable being because he is created in the image of God who is relational and reasonable. Ratzinger distinguishes between technical and moral reason. According to Ratzinger, reason needs faith to purify it from pathologies of reason. Faith instead needs reason to purge it from pathologies of faith. From this interaction between faith and reason, Ratzinger develops a personalistic concept of law in which the human person with his freedom and dignity has a central place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper establishes an eschatological criterion as a principle of comprehending history through its totalization. We argue that the opposition between relativism and reason can be fully grasped only from an eschatological standpoint. Postmodernism was associated with "post-historical" relativism epitomized in deconstruction as dissolution of all criteria. But the eschatological meaning of postmodernity is ultimately an epochal confusion that will culminate in a "church without an essence". To more concretely thematize such a church we devised a political-theological analysis of the Apocalypse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What unites Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI to the French is ressourcement, a controversial movement that initiated a brilliant reorientation of Catholic thought and teaching in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In the light of the significant work that has already been done on Ratzinger's original contribution to Vatican II, the objectives of the present paper are, first, to situate him as theologian and Christian humanist at the heart of the ressourcement movement and to evaluate his work for peace and harmony in the confines between past and present. It attempts to illuminate a way forward for the Church, based on the anthropological, philosophical, and spiritual foundations of the new Christian humanism of the ressourcement project, championed by the French and their German allies. Secondly, the paper seeks to document the influence of notable, twentieth-century, French Catholic thinkers, theologians and philosophers, on Ratzinger's thought and future contribution to Church and culture on a global stage, with particular attention to Yves Congar, Henri de Lubac, Jean Daniélou (1905-74), and Jacques Maritain (1882-1973).1 Thirdly, it presents a fresh consideration of his vision of the Church, his contribution to the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council, and of the turbulent post-conciliar period. The key goals in this domain are, therefore, to articulate Ratzinger's spirituality and his preponderant contribution to theological anthropology, using the lens of Vatican II. This is a point of some considerable importance and fills a critical lacuna in Catholic theology. As a pertinent comment of Congar's makes clear. "For there is little awareness of the values of anthropology; we have created an ecclesiology without any anthropology".2 Like Congar, Ratzinger sought to construct a theological anthropology concerned to serve the pastoral needs of the Church but without neglecting its cultural and social elements. Spirituality and anthropology are then, unsurprisingly, as luminous, intricately interwoven threads that permeate and fortify his entire theological edifice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article presents the results of an intertextual study comparing the text of Benedict XVI’s Spe salvi with earlier texts published by him as Joseph Ratzinger. The comparison shows that, decades before publishing Spe salvi, our author had already enunciated certain fundamental theses regarding worldly utopias and freedom’s role in the diversification of human final destinies. On the other hand, in the encyclical he does not develop his speculation on the nature of the human soul, as he does in earlier works. The presence of specific themes in Spe salvi and the absence of others may be indicative of the long-term concerns of Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, as well as the varying dogmatic weight he attributes to his own eschatological conceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The task of Evangelization becomes even more pressing in our times owing to the need to make Christ known to the ends of the earth. Over the years, disunity inhibited Christians from working together towards attaining this goal. The Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council, Unitatis Redintegratio, marked a turning point in the history of the relationship between the Catholic Church and other Churches and Ecclesial Communities because it paved the way for a concrete step, on the part of the Catholic Church, towards the realization Christian unity. The Ecumenical theology of Joseph Ratzinger in the light of the Decree Unitatis Redintegratio studies his stance on how the self-understanding of the Catholic Church guides her relationship with other Churches and Ecclesial Communities. Ratzinger affirms that Christian unity is possible, and it is a slow, painstaking and thorough process. Ratzinger emphasises the fact that true Christian unity is the action of the Trinity. The work is divided into three Chapters. The First Chapter traces the development of the Decree while paying attention to the themes raised therein. It helps to situate the context within which Ratzinger’s Ecumenical theology should be understood. The Second Chapter demonstrates how Ratzinger’s ecclesiology influences his approach to ecumenism. The Third Chapter examines the main themes in Joseph Ratzinger’s Ecumenical Theology in the light of Unitatis Redintegratio, the official Church teachings and the works of contemporary theologians both within and outside the Catholic Church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fact that a number of popes have been bad in the sense that they did not even meet minimal standards of moral integrity and sincere piety poses a serious problem for Roman Catholicism. After surveying a gallery of these infamous popes, I hone in more exactly on just what the problem is. I then argue that the problem remains on both a weak providence view and a strong providence view. According to the former, there is no guarantee that the man chosen pope is God’s will. According to the latter, deploying the resources of middle knowledge, God can make sure that popes infallibly avoid error and teach only truth by making sure the right man is chosen pope. Neither view satisfactorily explains how the papacy can be as important as Rome says it is while so many popes have been such unworthy holders of the office.

Si bien la obra de Joseph Ratzinger es rica en interpolaciones sobre la esperanza, carece sin embargo de una presentación sistemática. La presente investigación, recogiendo todo el corpus ratzingeriano, pretende ofrecer una sistematización del tema esperanza, su fundamento bíblico, su estructura antropológica y su composición teológica.

This paper argues that Joseph Ratzinger is a theologian with the stature of a Church Doctor, notwithstanding the fact that he did not develop a theological system in the manner of other ‘big name’ theologians of the twentieth century such as Karl Barth, Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar. The author argues that it is Ratzinger’s manner of responding to the contemporary crisis in fundamental theology that is his outstanding intellectual contribution to the life of the Church, along with his effect of a Christocentric turn in magisterial theology and his defence of beauty within his theology of culture.

Copyright of Studia Gdańskie is the property of Gdanskie Seminarium Duchowne, Kuria Metropolitalna Gdanska and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article is a reflection that sheds light on the question about the meaning of life in the perspective of Joseph Ratzinger. For the German theologian, man can only find meaning in his life in the truth. My intention is to demonstrate that the author's logocentrism offers the most adequate metaphysical foundation in order to emphasize the relationship that exists between meaning and truth. Analyzing each of the four senses of «meaning » identified by the Canadian philosopher Jean Grondin, I demonstrate that the Christian faith, as understood by Ratzinger, offers a very complete sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a scientific context such as ours, a true understanding of faith needs a correct approach to its relationship with science. Defending religious belief in the modern age dominated by scientific learning is the main preoccupation expressed by Pope Benedict XVI in some of his own speeches. Tackling this task means changing the nature of our ideas on both science and faith. The belief in God is compatible with science, only if we demarcate the limits of the scientific discourse. The idea that science is the framework for all kinds of cultural inquiry proves incorrect and represents a considerable risk for humanity. Moreover, a naturalist approach cannot respond to the exigency of finding a more profound meaning in natural reality.

Copyright of Studia Gdańskie is the property of Gdanskie Seminarium Duchowne, Kuria Metropolitalna Gdanska and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

En este artículo se estudian los escritos de Joseph Ratzinger en los que busca la mutua imbricación de la vida política con otros saberes y hace propuestas de solución para las aporías actuales. En el primer apartado se analiza cómo el planteamiento cristiano presupone que el componente social y político forma parte de la esencia humana y cómo introdujo el cristianismo un sano dualismo en las relaciones entre Estado e Iglesia. En el segundo, se investiga cuáles fueron los motivos que llevaron a rechazar el fundamento sacro de la historia y del Estado. En el tercer punto se exponen las divisiones que siguieron al giro moderno: el laicismo, las Iglesias estatales, y los diversos socialismos, democráticos o totalitarios. Más adelante se estudia cómo se pasó de las guerras del siglo XX a lo que Ratzinger denomina “la dictadura global”. Finalmente se justifica por qué razón la justicia y la ética son factores claves en la búsqueda de la paz.

The relationship between Benedict XVI and the media could be called both tense and intense. In the following pages, I analyze four episodes especially demonstrative of this relationship: the publication of The Ratzinger Report (), the controversial Regensburg Address (), the subsequent Papal visit to Turkey and the 2010 visit to the United Kingdom–this last one ending, ironically, on an idyllic note. By examining these events, we can better understand Benedict XVI’s reflections about the media and social networks, and the necessary relationship between reason, word, silence and truth.

La reciente encíclica social del Papa (Caritas in Veritate) recoge buena parte de la Doctrina Social anterior, especialmente Populorum Progressio, que conmemora a los veinte años de su publicación, y también de otros documentos: Quadragesimo Anno, publicada a los dos años de la crisis de 1929, y varias intervenciones magisteriales de José Ratzinger, antes y después de ser Papa. Lógicamente aporta también novedades, debidas en parte a las circunstancias en las que aparece y también en las características personales de Benedicto XVI.

In the interpretation of Joseph Ratzinger, the identity of Jesus Christ is important in determining the relationship between the Church and the state. Tempted at the beginning of his public activity, he does not reduce his mission to social or political activity. During the trial before Pilate, he confesses that His kingdom is not of this world, and is based on the power of truth. In accordance with the principle of religious-political dualism, religious and political authority must be distinguished. Nonetheless, the secular state needs the Church as a reservoir of values relevant to the public order, which for centuries matured on the basis of the Christian faith. Thus, healthy secularity manifests itself in the separation of the state and the Church, and at the same time within religious freedom and the presence of the Church in the public sphere of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that Joseph Ratzinger is a theologian with the stature of a Church Doctor, notwithstanding the fact that he did not develop a theological system in the manner of other 'big name' theologians of the twentieth century such as Karl Barth, Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar. The author argues that it is Ratzinger's manner of responding to the contemporary crisis in fundamental theology that is his outstanding intellectual contribution to the life of the Church, along with his effect of a Christocentric turn in magisterial theology and his defence of beauty within his theology of culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by exploring how Joseph Ratzinger's post‐doctoral work on the Theology of History in St Bonaventure is shaped by his interest in how theology can be grounded in salvation history. Through this lens, he examines Bonaventure's multi‐form theories of scripture and the place of St Francis in salvation history to show how prophetic interpretations of scripture are consistent with Christ as the apex of history. The paper goes on to demonstrate that these insights also influence Ratzinger's later work, particularly his reading of Dei Verbum, his recognition of the Mariological dimensions of hermeneutics, as well as his consideration of various prophetical manifestations of the life of the Church such as the monastic movement and the new ecclesial movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated one of the foundational notions of religion, i.e., revelation, as presented by Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905) in Risālatal-Tawḥīd and Risālatal-Wāridāt, through a comparison with the understanding of revelation in the Catholic tradition, as elucidated by Pope Ratzinger (b. 1927), and in Judaism, as presented by the Jewish scholar B. D. Spinoza (d. 1677). This research closely considered Abduh’s works to reveal whether the notion of revelation in the Islamic tradition is different from or analogous to its counterparts in Catholicism and Judaism. Although these authors’ religious backgrounds are diverse, their understandings of revelation are analogous in the sense that revelation is understood as beyond the linguistic realm. However, they each have different religious and intellectual stances regarding the valid interpretation and knowledge of revelation; where Ratzinger relies on the Church’s authority, Spinoza believes in the efficacy of holy scripture, and Abduh has more confidence in the use of reason in understanding revelation. By delineating the commonalities and differences of the ideas of these three scholars from different religious backgrounds, a more open and fruitful interreligious conversation can be further cultivated.

This article argues that a compelling way to address the presence of suffering and death across evolutionary history lies in the thought of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. By situating human evolution within the broader divine plan for man’s salvation through the cross of Jesus, Ratzinger is able to show that the presence of natural evils in this world is not incompatible with God’s goodness but on the contrary is an eminent means by which the love of God is made manifest. Exploring Christ’s kenosis and the sinless suffering of the Blessed Virgin, it is argued that suffering properly embraced is the raw material for love and thus essential for true human flourishing in this life. The real problem for man, it is contended, is not having to suffer and die, but how to suffer and die well. Finally, it is suggested that the full Christian answer to the problem of suffering connected with evolution nevertheless lies in the eschatogical hope for a new heaven and new earth, where man—and all creation with him—will undergo a definitive “evolutionary leap” of “transubstantiation” in Christ.

This essay wants to face the problem of the ministerial priesthood according to J. Ratzinger’s theological perspective. Through his Christological/Trinitarian approach, the author is going to show that it is possible to find a balance between functionalism and ontologism, Christo-monism and Church-monism. Priesthood, indeed, finds its identity in the foundamental relationships with the Trinity and the Church, both mediated by the personal and community relationship with Jesus Christ. To conclude, such an approach will lead to seize the ministerial priesthood as an eschatological service/sign so that each believer can receive Christ’s salvific mediation and – by doing that – realize his own baptismal priesthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI called Blessed John Henry Newman "an important influence in my own life and thought." In his memoirs, Ratzinger describes the energy with which Newman's work on conscience, history, and on the development of doctrine was read and discussed in his seminary days. Yet, in terms of Ratzinger's own work on history, tradition, and revelation, he makes almost no direct mention of Newman in his writings over his long theological career. This paper, by comparing the two theologians' writings on the subject, seeks to ascertain whether and to what extent Newman's theology of tradition and revelation had an impact on Ratzinger's theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Romano Guardini was highly valued by Joseph Ratzinger as a lecturer and author of inspiring books. They shared the zealous pursuit for truth, the courage to ask fundamental questions, the boldness to confront the Christian faith with the challenges of contemporary culture, the conviction that the human mind has high cognitive capacities, and the emphasis on the primate of truth in theology. Both authors highlight the reasonable aspect of the Christian faith. After all, faith relies on the fact that God is Truth. Faith and reason are not contradictory. They can complement one another in the process of in-depth cognition. Naturally, as the human mind tries to understand God, it struggles with its own limitations in the face of the mystery which exceeds the capacities of the creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his academic contributions, Joseph Ratzinger has dedicated a great attention to the issue of complementary science and rationality of the Christian announcement in the perspective of participation in Logos. Contrary to numerous analyses dealing with this issue and the established views of his theological manuscript, the following brief reflection focuses on one of his earlier lectures and offers a somewhat less conventional lecture of the rationality of the Christian message. Reflection will turn its attention to those elements of rationality that support creativity and participate in shaping the content and meaning that is communicated. It is an integrating vision of rationality, not only freeing from cultural- -historical conditions and ideologies, enabling the development of dialogue between science and faith, but also especially strengthening the awareness of the relationship with the world and man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recourse to natural law reasoning has long been a part of how Catholics and Christians engage in debates about issues of public and private morality with people and communities of people who do not share the Catholic/Christian faith. But with the rise of modernity, the scientific revolution, and the relative success of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, many Catholics have begun to question traditional natural law reasoning. Some, including theorists like Germain Grisez, and John Finnis have sought to modify traditional natural law reasoning and continue to employ it within debates concerning public and private ethics, while others, acknowledging the radically altered conception of nature that followed the scientific revolution have thought to look for alternative modes of engagement. The following paper will seek to develop an argument against proponents of this altered version of natural law theory, what has come to be called New Natural Law theory, on the basis of the altered understanding of nature in the contemporary West, and the New Natural Law propensity to sideline the question of nature itself. The paper will then go on to advocate for an alternative and more confessional mode of engagement in public debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lo largo de las tres etapas que marcan la vida de J. Ratzinger-Benedicto XVI, profesor, prefecto y papa, la oración de Jesús ha constituido un núcleo esencial de su cristología. En la Introducción al Cristianismo (1968) formula que en ella se revela la identidad de Jesús como Hijo, mostrando la verdad del dogma cristológico. En Miremos al Traspasado (1984) establece los fundamentos de una cristología espiritual: parte de la oración de Jesús y participa de la misma. En la trilogía sobre Jesús de Nazaret (2007-2011), construye una figura de Jesús desarrollando el programa de una cristología espiritual, que se completa con una imagen de Jesús a la que cabe rezar.

This paper explores the female line in the Bible that Joseph Ratzinger identifies as running in parallel to, and being indispensable for, the male line in the Bible. This female line expands the understanding of Salvation History as described by Dei Verbum so that it runs not just from Adam through to Jesus, but also from Adam and Eve to Mary and Jesus, the final Adam. Ratzinger’s female line demonstrates that women are at the heart of God’s plan for humanity. I illustrate that this line is evident when Ratzinger’s method of biblical interpretation is applied to the women of Scripture. Its full potential comes into view through Ratzinger’s development of the Christian notion of person: Person as revealed by Jesus Christ is relatedness without reserve with God and is fully applicable to the human being through Christ. I argue that together, the male and female lines in the Bible form the human line in the Bible, in which the male line represents “the humanity”, every human being, while the female line represents the communal aspect of humanity. Moreover, I contend that Christianity’s notion of mother in relation to God (as Father, Son and Holy Spirit) should be understood through Mary’s response at the Annunciation. Mother in relation to God is to be understood through the Incarnation when Mary, as person, lived her life wholly in relation with and for God.

The relationship between Benedict XVI and the media could be called both tense and intense. In the following pages, I analyze four episodes especially demonstrative of this relationship: the publication of The Ratzinger Report (1985), the controversial Regensburg Address (2006), the subsequent Papal visit to Turkey and the 2010 visit to the United Kingdom-this last one ending, ironically, on an idyllic note. By examining these events, we can better understand Benedict XVI’s reflections about the media and social networks, and the necessary relationship between reason, word, silence and truth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]