Benedict XVI's Legacy: Unfinished Debates on Faith, Culture and Politics

Among Pope Benedict XVI’s teachings are several speeches and letters that address crucial topics regarding the political and cultural debates of contemporary society. These texts, although they already examined in different ways, still need to be adequately discussed, as they still have much to offer to the ongoing the intellectual debate.

In this last sense, the present conference in Rome puts those addresses in dialogue with internationally renowned scholars, distinguished by their scholarship in the twenty-first century.

The de Nicola Center for Ethics & Culture (University of Notre Dame), the Fondazione Joseph Ratzinger (Vatican City) and the Benedict XVI Institute (Regensburg) aim to create an intergenerational dialogue on the great themes of contemporary society related to faith, culture and politics. Benedict XVI’s thought can be understood as a patrimony handed on to a new, younger generations of thinkers.

Among those addresses are three speeches (New York, London, Berlin) that touch upon crucial political aspects: the foundation of human rights, the liberal democratic tradition, the foundation of justice and the debate on natural law. Three other speeches (Regensburg, Rome, Paris) cover the academic-cultural sphere: the relationship between faith and reason, the contribution of Christianity to culture, and the autonomy of science and its relationship with faith. The pastoral letter to the Catholics in Ireland was a turning point for the Church’s response to the sexual abuse crisis.

The de Nicola Center for Ethics & Culture, the Fondazione Joseph Ratzinger and the Benedict XVI Institute have, together, organized the conference about the first of the 7 topics chosen, “Human Rights. Speech at the United Nations (New York) April 18, 2008”, on November 29^th (the day before the Ratzinger Prize will be presented to this year’s winners). It will be hosted by the Pontifical Gregorian University. The other 6 topics will be discussed in a further conference in the US (University of Notre Dame) in spring 2024.