ABSTRACT
A theologian on Peter’s chair is something unusual, at least in modern times. Joseph Ratzinger’s thinking can be followed through his voluminous writings on a variety of subjects. He has continued to write after his election as Pope Benedict XVI. It is difficult to draw a distinction between “the Pope’s theology” and “Ratzinger’s theology”; but this is necessary only to some extent, since the problem did not arise only with the outcome of the conclave on April 18, 2005. It arose already in 1977, when Ratzinger was appointed archbishop of Munich, and then became head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome in 1981. During his time as cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger continued to publish extensively. He frequently gave lectures in his own name (so to speak) on topics that were being discussed at the same time in statements and texts issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This double role was a departure from the tradition, as was John Paul II’s manner of exercising the papal ministry. Despite this, one should not treat the texts of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as a part of Ratzinger’s writings. They have their genesis in a lengthy period of consultations with theologians, members of the curia, and the cardinals who make up the Congregation itself. The situation with Pope Benedict XVI is somewhat different. In addition to the publication of two volumes of his study of Jesus, which according to the foreword “is not in any sense an act of the magisterium, but is only the expression of my personal seeking ‘the face of the Lord’ (cf. Psalm 27:8),” 1 his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, is strongly marked by his own theology. These texts must therefore be included among his own writings. Although his other discourses, sermons, and official texts certainly have a clearly “Ratzingerian” profile, we leave them out of this presentation.
