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On John of Salisbury "We Witness a Worrying Separation Between Reason ... and Liberty" VATICAN CITY, DEC. 16, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in Paul VI Hall. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, Today we will meet the figure of John of Salisbury, who belonged to one of the most important philosophical and theological schools of the Middle Ages, that of the cathedral of Chartres, in France. John, too, like the theologians about whom I've spoken over the past weeks, helps us to understand how faith, in...

Ratzinger's Faith Ratzinger's Faith By Dr. Jeff Mirus | October 30, 2009 4:36 PM I've just finished reading Tracey Rowland's Ratzinger's Faith: The Theology Pope Benedict XVI. Rowland is Dean and Associate Professor of Political Philosophy and Continental Theology at the John Paul II Institute in Melbourne, Australia. She is also on the editorial board of Communio, the theological journal founded by Hans Urs von Balthasar and Joseph Ratzinger. She had already written a critically-acclaimed book, Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II, as part of the Oxford University Press Radical Orthodoxy series. The book carries cover blurbs from...

Caritatis in Veritate: papal encyclical calls for new moral approach to global economy Jul. 7, 2009 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has released the text of Caritatis in Veritate, the long-awaited social encyclical in which Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) calls for "a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise" and a global economic system that values the common good above private profits. Explaining the title of the encyclical, Pope Benedict writes that the social teachings of the Catholic Church offer a means of appraising the secular world, judging social and economic systems against a clear moral standard. The guiding...

On Priestly Identity "One Who Prays Is Not Afraid; One Who Prays Is Never Alone" VATICAN CITY, JULY 1, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience in St. Peter's Square. He continued with the theme he took up last week: the Year for Priests. * * * Dear brothers and sisters: As you know, with the celebration of First Vespers for the solemnity of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the Pauline Year has come to a close -- the year...

On True Worship "The Era of the Temple and Its Worship Had Ended" VATICAN CITY, JAN. 7, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in Paul VI Hall. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, In this first general audience of 2009, I want to offer all of you fervent best wishes for the New Year that just began. Let us renew our determination to open the mind and heart to Christ, to be and live as his true friends. His company will make this year, even with its inevitable difficulties,...

On the Trip to Austria"Above All It Was a Pilgrimage" VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 12, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square. The Holy Father reflected on his recent pastoral visit to Austria. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, Today I intend to focus on the pastoral visit that I had the joy of making a few days ago to Austria, a country that is especially familiar to me, because it borders my native land and because of the numerous contacts that I have always had...

VATICAN CITY - Charting a papacy in the tradition of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI pledged Wednesday to work for unity among Christians and to seek "an open and sincere dialogue" with other faiths. In his first Mass as pontiff, Benedict invoked the words of John Paul II - "Be not afraid" - a message designed to show he is intent on following the groundbreaking path of the late pope. The German-born pontiff also stressed he would draw on the work of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meeting that modernized the church, an issue important to liberals who are...