Pope Benedict XVI to Confer the First 'Ratzinger Prize' in Theology

His theological writings are the fruit of his deep interior life. He is a man of deep prayer. His love for the Lord comes through in his theology. It is no mere academic exercise. From that place of intimate communion with the living and Risen Jesus Christ, this Pope is a model theologian. His theology is a fruit of his deep relationship with the Lord.

P>VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - There are many wonderful definitions of a theologian in the tradition. However, my favorite is taken from Evagrius of Pontus, a monk of the fourth century, a "theologian is one who rests his head on the breast of Christ".

The imagery clearly refers to the Apostle John and the posture he assumed at the Last Supper. However, it also reveals the truth that it is only through a relationship with the Lord, what Pope Benedict XVI calls a "hermeneutic of faith", that we can approach the Word of God and encounter the Living Word.

Pope Benedict XVI, like the Beloved disciple John, rests his head on the breast of Christ, close to the heart of the Incarnate Word. Prior to his elevation to the Chair of Peter his theological contributions to the Church were already highly regarded. He is an intellectual, with impeccable theological credentials.

However, most importantly, his theological writings are the fruit of his deep interior life. He is a man of deep prayer. His love for the Lord comes through in his theology. It is no mere academic exercise. From that place of intimate communion with the living and Risen Jesus Christ, this Pope is a model theologian. His theology is a fruit of his deep relationship with the Lord.

For example, drawing repeatedly from John's Gospel, the Fathers of the Church, the best of the medieval masters of the West and the treasury of the Tradition, Pope Benedict XVI gave us the finest short course on the Word of God, the Bible, Sacred Scripture, which I have read in "Verbum Domini" (The Word of God), an apostolic exhortation released in 2010.

He calls us all to live our lives immersed in and transformed by the Word of God in this exhortation. Perhaps that is why he is a theologian of the highest order. He delighted his many students over the years during which he taught as "Professor Ratzinger". He stays in contact with a "circle" of those students and meets with them.

As he wrote in the introduction to Verbum Domini, "being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a definitive direction."

He has encouraged a rebirth of this kind of theology in the Catholic Church. To promote this task, on Tuesday, June 14, 2011 the Holy See Press Office announced the awarding of the first "Ratzinger Prize". The Prize will be conferred by the Vatican Foundation. Pope Benedict XVI instituted the foundation on March 1, 2010.

The prize is being described as a sort of 'Nobel Peace Prize' for theologians. It will be conferred for the first time on June 30, 2011. The first recipients of this honor will be a layman from Italy named Manlio Simonetti, with a special knowledge of the Church fathers, a Spanish priest, Fr.  Olegario Gonzalez de Cardedal, whose expertise is in systematic theology, and Abbot Maximilian Heim, a Cistercian Monk from Austria who is a professor of fundamental and dogmatic theology.

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