Top photo caption: Pope Benedict XVI smiles as he bids the crowd farewell after celebrating Mass at Nationals Park in Washington April 17, 2008. Pope Benedict, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Munich and Freising, died Dec. 31, 2022, at the age of 95 in his residence at the Vatican. OSV News photo/Nancy Wiechec, CNS
By Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News
OSV News – The Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation announced a series of initiatives across several continents that will take place throughout 2026 to mark the centenary of Pope Benedict XVI’s birth.
In a statement announcing the yearlong events April 14, the foundation said events are set to take place in Europe (Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary), Asia (India), South America (Colombia), North America (United States) and Africa (Kenya) before the centenary of the late Pope’s birthday on April 16, 2027.
The events, it said, which include various lecture series and symposiums, aim to commemorate and explore “the figure and thought of Joseph Ratzinger.”
To prepare for the upcoming centenary, the foundation established a committee, composed of scholars from around the world, to promote research, publications and cultural initiatives inspired by Benedict’s work. It also aims to involve younger generations in exploring the late pontiff’s legacy.
Speaking by phone with OSV News April 14, Father Roberto Regoli, president of the Ratzinger Foundation and the Centenary Committee, said the initiatives are not only meant to “reintroduce” the late pontiff’s thoughts about the Catholic Church and society, but to also show that his teachings “can contribute to today’s culture: to ecclesial and cultural debates and to society today.”
“All the initiatives look to the past, to Ratzinger’s thought, but they want to take it up again not in a merely preservative way, but in dialogue with today’s problems and debates because, ultimately, Ratzinger’s thought is still relevant,” Father Regoli said.
Founded in 2010, the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation was established to promote theological study and support scholarly work related to Pope Benedict’s writings, including through conferences and the annual Ratzinger Prize, which recognizes contributions to theology.
Father Regoli told OSV News that in presenting Christianity, Pope Benedict had a “Christological approach that runs through all theological questions.”
Placing “everything in the light of the encounter with Christ,” particularly one’s personal experience, he explained, makes his writings and teachings “easily understandable for younger generations.”
Another element that made the late Pope an “interlocutor for many nonbelievers” was the emphasis he placed “on the reasonableness of human nature,” Father Regoli said.
“He shows the reasonableness of faith and how faith can help reason itself to become more fully rational, without falling into totalitarianism or arbitrariness,” the foundation president told OSV News.
Father Regoli said the foundation is looking toward a two-pronged approach in making Pope Benedict more accessible to younger generations. The conferences and symposiums taking place throughout the year, he said, are aimed at involving the next generation of scholars, which includes researchers, doctoral and post-doctoral students.
“An intergenerational alliance is needed,” the priest said. “This is an idea that runs through all the major conferences.”
The second approach, he continued, was a more pastoral and outreach-oriented aspect that would present the late Pope’s teaching on social media to make his thoughts and contributions known.
“Young people now often gain their initial knowledge through videos, and only afterward do they move to texts,” Father Regoli explained. “So we must also adapt to these new and widespread ways of learning.”
Father Regoli told OSV News that while there are “strictly academic” events that cater to a “more specialized audience,” they also can “influence educational processes at the university and school levels – thus impacting the formation of new university students and future teachers.”
However, events such as exhibitions and concerts are of equal importance because they reach “a much broader audience and engage not only in thinking, but also perception, feeling and the senses.”
“Exhibitions and concerts are experiences,” Father Regoli said. “So the aim is to communicate not only at a conceptual level but also at the level of lived experience.”
According to the foundation, the centenary initiatives will continue through 2026, culminating in 2027, the anniversary year, when further commemorations are expected.
“The dates for the 2027 events will be announced later,” the foundation said.
Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.
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