Episode Details

On this weeks podcast we reflect on the life of Joseph Ratzinger - Pope Benedict XVI - who died on 31 December 2022, ten years after historically resigning from the papacy at the age of 95. 

We reflect on the life of "a humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord," who as a theologian and teacher his primary focus was always on making known Jesus Christ and his message of love and salvation

Our podcast looks at his life and times from his childhood in Germany up to his death as the 265th successor to St Peter. We discuss his life and work as a theologian with Philip Cremin (WIT) and reflect back on a historic first, a funeral for a retired pope presided over by the current pontiff. 

• ‘God is love’: The key to Benedict’s pontificate (Vatican News)
• The Spiritual Testament of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (Vatican News) 
• Benedict XVI: Key events of his pontificate (Vatican News)
• Death of Pope Emeritus Benedict: his official biography (Vatican News)
• Death of Benedict XVI marks passing of a ‘Pope of Ironies’ (Crux)
• The Real Ratzinger - The last of the monumental figures of 20th-century Catholicism bears no resemblance to the caricature created by his theological and cultural foes. (NCR)
• Remembering Benedict (First Things)