VATICAN CITY, NOV. 17, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI bestowed awards on three researchers for their contribution to the promotion of Christian humanism.
The winner of this year’s award of the Pontifical Academies, instituted 10 years ago by Pope John Paul II, was Giovanni Catapano, of Pordenone, for his work «The Concept of Philosophy in the Early Writings of Augustine: An Analysis of Meta-philosophical Passages from ‘Contra Academicos’ to ‘De Vera Religione.'»
Benedict XVI, who also wrote his thesis on St. Augustine, acknowledges in his message — sent to the annual public session of the pontifical academies, held Tuesday — that Catapano’s research «investigates satisfactorily the philosophical conception of the ‘early’ Augustine in its most original aspects.»
Catapano received his doctorate in philosophy in 1999 from the University of Padua. He specializes in moral philosophy and the history of ancient and patristic philosophy.
The Coordination Council of the Pontifical Academies suggested the award to Benedict XVI. «As a sign of appreciation and encouragement,» the council also suggested that the Holy Father gave two pontifical medals to two researchers.
One is Massimiliano Marianelli, of the University of Perugia, for his work «The Metaphor Rediscovered: Myth and Symbol in the Philosophy of Simone Weil,» published in Italy by Città Nuova.
The second is Father Santiago Sanz Sánchez, a professor at the University of the Holy Cross in Rome, for his dissertation on «The Relationship between Creation and Covenant in Contemporary Theology.»
