Disciples of Benedict XVI renewed their commitment in Rome to continue his legacy

On the way to the 2025 Jubilee “Pilgrims of Hope”, the Circles of Disciples of Joseph Ratzinger met in Rome to participate in their IV Symposium and delve deeper into his thinking.

The meeting took place from September 12 to 15, and included the participation of the Circles of Disciples – who were students of Ratzinger – and the New Circle formed by theologians and philosophers specializing in his thought, a group that has a majority of German presence, but also representatives from Spain and Chile.

These meetings are held with certain frequency and have the objective of keeping alive the thoughts of Pope Benedict XVI and continuing his legacy. On this occasion, a few months before the Jubilee, it was an opportunity to reflect on holiness in Christian life and the Church.

In addition to the symposium, entitled “Holiness as the purpose of theology and life”, which was attended by Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for the promotion of Christian Unity and protector of the New Circle; and Cardinal Rino Fisichella, prefect of the Dicastery for the New Evangelization, the meeting had moments of prayer and liturgical celebrations.

During the symposium, which carried the motto taken from the passage of the Gospel of John “And for them I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in the truth”, it was also an opportunity for those present to reflect on the topics discussed, exchange experiences and views on the future.

The presentations were presented by Cardinal Koch, also protector of the New Circle, and allowed the attendees and those who followed the event through the Internet to identify the elements of Christian holiness.

In his presentation, Cardinal Fisichella emphasized the theme of holiness, sanctification and the visible imprint of God in the saints. He also referred to the issue of the next Jubilee, ensuring that “no one can be excluded from hope; “Everyone is invited to experience it.”

Citing Benedict XVI, he noted that “knowing God, the true God, means receiving hope,” and considered that Christians have “thanks to the hope in which we were saved, the certainty that the history of humanity, and the of each one of us, is not heading towards a dead end or towards darkness, but towards the encounter with the Lord of glory.

“Christian hope has as its fundamental content this reference to redemption, which unfortunately seems increasingly absent in theology, and with it in preaching and catechesis, almost disappearing,” he lamented.

Along these lines, he recalled the words of Pope Benedict XVI, who “was fully aware of this when, at the beginning of his encyclical (Spe Salvi) wrote: ‘Salvation is not simply a fact. We are offered salvation in the sense that we have been given hope. A reliable hope, thanks to which we can face our present: the present, even if it is a tiring present, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal and if this goal is so great that it justifies the effort of the road’”.

When referring to the search for eternal life in today’s world, Cardinal Fisichella stated that many times eternal life “seems more of an obstacle than a blessing,” and that it is the task of the Church to establish unity between the announcement of hope and the signs that represent it, to keep the faith alive and answer the questions of those people who feel alone, abandoned or marginalized.

A special moment of the meeting was the celebration that took place at the altar of the tomb of Saint Peter, next to the place where the remains of Benedict XVI rest.

One of the fruits of this new meeting of Ratzinger’s Circles of Disciples was the renewal of the vocation to holiness, and the call to Christian hope.