Ratzinger Students to Consider Vatican II

(August 27, 2010) The Second Vatican Council and its implementation is the theme of this year's meeting of the “Ratzinger Study Circle”, a group of the Pope's former students. Pope Benedict XVI will participate in some of their discussions. The annual gathering of the study circle starts at Castel Gandolfo on Friday 27^th of August and lasts through Monday. The group is made up of some 40 people who presented their doctoral theses to Ratzinger while he was professor at various German universities. The main speaker for this year's study weekend will be Archbishop Kurt Koch, the new president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. During his two lectures the Prelate will speak on "Vatican II between Tradition and Innovation" and on "Sacrosanctum concilium" and the reform of the liturgy. The topic chosen is central to Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate. He has often indicated that the council was not a rupture with tradition, but a deepening of the Church's 2,000-year history. Father Stephan Horn, president of the Ratzinger Study Circle, said the topic and main speaker were chosen by the Pope from among a series of proposals. On Friday and Saturday, after Archbishop Koch's contributions, there will be an open discussion in which the Pontiff will participate. On Sunday morning, the high-point of the gathering, the former students will take part in the Eucharistic celebration presided over by the Pope and later that day, the praying of the midday Angelus. Ratzinger's first meeting with his former students took place in the 70s. Since then, the meeting has been repeated every year on a specific topic. In 2005, they reflected on the question of Islam; in 2006 and 2007, on creation and evolution theories; in 2008, the topic was the historical Jesus and his passion; and in 2009, mission and dialogue with religions and cultures.