FOUNDATION

The Holy Father acknowledged that numerous scholars had the wish to create an association to promote the printing, dissemination and study of the written texts of Professor Joseph Ratzinger. Following the need to create a legal entity structure, Pope Benedict XVI, on 1^st March 2010, decided the establishment of the “Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation, in accordance with the Canonical Law Code and the Fundamental Law of Vatican City State.

AIMS OF THE FOUNDATION

The aims of the Foundation are described in the second article of its statute:

• Promotion of research, studies and publications on the works and thoughts of Professor Joseph Ratzinger, through the assignment of grants.

• Organization of high-value cultural and scientific conferences.

• Prize-giving to scholars that have stood out for their publications or their scientific research.

JOSEPH RATZINGER PRIZE

The prize giving to scholars that have stood out for the particular value of their scientific research – as Pope Benedict XVI has said – is a way to thank “a new theology that wants to know more for the lover’s sake” and to say to the theologians: “be courageous” and “a great thank” because they understand that “God has given us the Church as an alive subject, with the Archbishops in communion with the Pope”.