On 1 December, Fr Michel Fédou sj received the Ratzinger Prize from Pope Francis, who hailed "a master of Christian theology". Fr. Fédou is a professor of classics, has a doctorate in theology and teaches patristics and dogmatic theology at the Centre Sèvres - Facultés jésuites de Paris.

A worthy heir to the French theologians

On 1 December 2022, the Ratzinger Prize* was awarded in the Clementine Room in the Vatican at the end of the morning, in the presence of the Supreme Pontiff, the two recipients: Fr. Michel Fédou SJ and the law professor Joseph Halevi Horowitz Weiler, Cardinal Ravasi, President Emeritus of the former Pontifical Council for Culture, and Father Federico Lombardi, President of the Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation, who initiated this award, now in its twelfth year.

In his speech, Pope Francis began by evoking the figure of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose thought was "fruitful and effective", before returning to the important work of the two laureates of this 2022 edition, saluting "two eminent personalities for the remarkable work they have accomplished in their respective fields of study and teaching".

Fr Michel Fédou SJ, born in 1952 in Lyon, is "a master of Christian theology", said the Holy Father. The French Jesuit, who specialises in patristics, dogmatic theology, and Christology, "has not closed himself off to the past. His knowledge of the faith tradition has nourished in him a lively thought", also able "to address current issues in the field of ecumenism and relations with other religions". "In him, we recognise and pay tribute to a worthy heir and continuator of the great tradition of French theology, which has given the Church masters of theology and theology of the Church.

In him we recognise and pay homage to a worthy heir and continuator of the great tradition of French theology, which has given the Church teachers of the stature of Father Henri De Lubac", the Pontiff complimented, mentioning also "solid and courageous cultural undertakings such as Sources Chrétiennes", a review of patristics born eighty years ago. "Without the contribution of this French theology, the richness, depth and breadth of the reflection on which the Second Vatican Council was nourished would not have been possible, the Pope said, and it is to be hoped that it will continue to bear fruit in the long term.

On Thursday afternoon, 1 December, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI received at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican the two personalities awarded the Ratzinger Prize by Pope Francis: Fr Michel Fédou SJ and Professor of Law Joseph H. Horowitz Weiler, accompanied by the President of the Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ. Georg Gänswein, the Pope's private secretary, also attended the meeting. The two winners of the 2022 Prize "were able to talk to Pope Benedict XVI and illustrate their work to him," reads the Ratzinger Foundation's Facebook page. At the end of the audience, the Pope emeritus presented each of them with a volume and a medal.

Jésuites EOF