RATZINGER PRIZE 2017 TO THEODOR DIETER, KARL-HEINZ MENKE AND ARVO PÄRT

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(26th September 2017) Theodor Dieter, German Lutheran theologian, Karl-Heinz Menke, theologian and German Catholic priest, and Arvo Pärt, music composer are the winners of the 2017 edition of the Ratzinger Prize, that will be held on 18th November in the Vatican City. The names have been announced in the morning by the President of the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation father Federico Lombardi, during a press conference held at the Press Room of the Holy See. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and member of the Scientific Committee of the Foundation; Professor Daniel Sada, Rector of the University Francisco de Vitoria of Madrid; dr. Fernando F. Sánchez Campos, Rector of the  Universidad Católica de Costa Rica attended the meeting.

Professor Sada presented the ceremony of the first edition of the Prize called “Razón abierta”; the initiative is the result of the collaboration between the University Francisco de Vitoria and the Foundation and it will be held on 27th September in the Vatican City, at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, with a live streaming. After receiving 367 works from 170 different universities and 30 countries, the international jury met last 12th and 13thJuly at the University of Madrid, it selected four winners and two honorary mentions for the people who answered to the challenge of fostering a deep dialogue among Science, Theology and Philosophy.

At the end, dr. Sánchez Campos reported on the international Symposium “Laudato si’ – La cura della ‘casa comune’, una conversione necessaria all’ecologia umana”, regarding the topic of the sustainable development for our universe and promoted from Ratzinger Foundation together with the Catholic University of Costa Rica. It will be held from 29th November to 1st December 2017 at the Wyndham San José Herradura Hotel of San José, in Costa Rica.