VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 28, 2012 (Zenit.org) – In a press conference today, the Holy See Press Office announced the winners of the Ratzinger Prize, which was established by the “Vatican Foundation: Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI”. The prize will be conferred on October 20.
The foundation was established in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI to establish criteria of excellence for the creation and conferral of prizes to scholars who have distinguished themselves in academic publications and/or research.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of the Foundation’s academic committee announced the names of the winners: French historian Remi Brague and American scholar of patrology and theology, Fr. Brian Edward Daley, S.J.
Brague served for 20 years as professor at La Sorbonne University in Paris, France. Currently, he holds the “Romano Guardini” chair at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, while continuing to work as visiting professor at a number of American, Spanish and Italian universities. Cardinal Ruini described Professor Brague as “a true philosopher and, at the same time, a great historian of cultural thought who unites a profound and unequivocal Christian and Catholic faith to his speculative ability and historical vision.”
Fr. Daley serves currently as a professor at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to teaching at the famed Catholic institution, Fr. Daley taught theology and history of theology at the Western School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Fr. Daley is a great historian of patristic theology, but also a man entirely committed to the life and mission of the Church, an exemplary model of the fusion of academic rigor with passion for the Gospel,” Cardinal Ruini said.
Also present at the press conference was Msgr. Giuseppe Scotti, president of the Vatican Foundation. Msgr. Scotti explained that the goal of the foundation was “to place the issue of God at the core of philosophical reflection”
“The conferral of the Ratzinger Prize, which seeks to place the question of God before the eyes of the public, is just one of the Foundation’s three regular activities. The other two, perhaps less well known but equally important, […] are the granting of bursaries to doctorate students of theology, and organizing high-level academic conferences,” he said.
