European Humanism and Benedictine Monasticism. Around Selected Statements of Benedict XVI

Josef Ratzinger has made the problem of the solid foundations of European humanism one of the most important in his scientific and pastoral work. Called to the Holy See, he chose the name Benedict XVI, indicating the Saint Abbot of Nursia as the special patron of his pontificate. In this study two valuable statements of Pope Ratzinger are discussed, showing the relationship between European humanism and Benedictine monasticism. The first is the speech of Benedict XVI during a meeting with people active in culture at the Bernardine College in Paris on September 12, 2008. The second is the text Crisis of cultures, in which the Pope pensioner presents Abbot Benedict and his way of life as an adequate response to the contemporary crisis of European humanism. To seek God in the first place, to sensitize conscience to trueness, showing the paths of freedom, which advocates good and beauty, is the calling of Benedictine monks and at the same time, a necessary condition for integral humanism, the creative development of European culture.

Monastic Interreligious Dialogue

The chapter offers a theological approach to Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (MID), a recent and creative development within Benedictine monasticism. It highlights the centrality of hospitality in this movement and its relevance for a Church and a world in crisis. If MID ensures the continuity of the practice of hospitality, to which the Rule of St Benedict devotes an entire chapter, it nevertheless signals a change by its openness to religious otherness. Hence the contrast with one of the most radical exponents of Christian hospitality, the Order of Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem. Heir to a long tradition which has manifested itself in various forms through the ages, MID offers a new paradigm for today, in which the relationship to someone who believes differently is no longer a threat to one’s faith, but rather a privileged place for its expression.