Pope Francis names women members of consecrated life congregation

​​Etsurō Sotoo is an enthusiastic advocate of the cause of canonization of Gaudí, known as “God’s architect.” / Credit: Public Domain CC-BY-SA-4.0 Wikimedia Commons

Madrid, Spain, Sep 20, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

For the first time, a sculptor and native of Japan will be awarded the Ratzinger Prize.

His name is Etsurō Sotoo, born in 1953 in Fukuoka, Japan, and a graduate of Kyoto University.

A 1978 visit to Spain changed the course of his life forever. 

Arriving in the city of Barcelona, he was impressed by the construction of the Sagrada Familia basilica and asked to work there as a sculptor.

Following instructions left by Antoni Gaudí, the renowned Spanish architect of the monument, still under construction, Sotoo began his work on the basilica’s Nativity façade.

During his stay in Barcelona, ​​Etsurō Sotoo converted to Catholicism and received the sacrament of baptism. 

Sotoo is an enthusiastic advocate of the cause of canonization of Gaudí, known as “God’s architect.”

Sotoo’s handiwork is found in various parts of the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia and in other places in Spain as well as in Japan and Italy, in the Cathedral of Florence.

Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the Sagrada Familia basilica during a trip to Barcelona in 2010, expressing his great appreciation for the figure and art of Antoni Gaudí. 

Cyril O’Regan

Irish theologian Cyril O’Regan is also a winner of the 2024 Ratzinger Prize.

Since 1999, he has been a professor of systematic theology in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

He studied philosophy in Ireland and earned a doctorate, also earning another doctorate in theology at Yale University in Connecticut. 

O’Regan is the author of numerous articles and several books, including “The Heterodox Hegel” (1994), “Gnostic Return in Modernity” (2001), “Theology and the Spaces of Apocalyptic” (2009), “Anatomy of Misremembering,” and “Newman and Ratzinger” (publication in progress).

His lectures are highly appreciated by his students, and he has dedicated several relevant articles to the figure and teachings of Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI).

“I am delighted and also feel incredibly honored given the caliber of scholars and thinkers who have received it before me,” O’Regan said of the recognition.

Nov. 22 award ceremony and Mass

On Friday, Nov. 22, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state of the Holy See, is scheduled to present the prize to both professor O’Regan and Sotoo. 

The ceremony will take place in the Sala Regia of the Apostolic Palace. That same morning, a Mass will be celebrated in memory of Pope Benedict XVI at his tomb in the Vatican Grottoes. The two winners will be received by Pope Francis.

What is the Ratzinger Prize?

The Ratzinger Prize was started in 2011 to recognize scholars whose work demonstrates a significant contribution to theology in the spirit of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Bavarian theologian who became Pope Benedict XVI.

The awardees are chosen by Pope Francis based on the recommendations of a committee made up of five cardinals who are members of the Roman Curia.

It is currently made up of Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity; Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture; Archbishop Salvatore Fisichica, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization; and Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer Regensburg, president of the Pope Benedict XVI Institute.

With the 2024 edition, the total number of Ratzinger prize winners ascends to 30. These are mainly eminent personalities in the studies of dogmatic or fundamental theology, sacred Scripture, patristics, philosophy, law, sociology, or in artistic activity such as music, architecture, and now sculpture. 

The winners, who hail from 18 different countries on five continents, are not only Catholics but also belong to other faith traditions, such as Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and Judaism.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

[…]

Pope Francis blesses the crowd from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the end of his Sunday Angelus address Aug. 13, 2023. / Vatican Media.

Vatican City, Aug 13, 2023 / 07:46 am (CNA).

Pope Francis called attention Sunday to the thousands of people who have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to immigrate to Europe in 2023.

“It is an open wound of our humanity,” he said after reciting the Angelus prayer at the Vatican on Aug. 13. He added that the deaths bring “pain and shame.”

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that 2,175 men, women, and children are either missing or dead in the Mediterranean Sea as of Aug. 13, 2023. In 2022, in the same period, the estimated dead and missing was 1,361.

Speaking to a crowd of around 15,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said he had prayed for the 41 migrants who died in the latest Mediterranean shipwreck tragedy.

Survivors rescued off the coast of the small Italian island of Lampedusa reported the migrant shipwreck on Wednesday, according to CNN.

An estimated 90,763 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea in 2023 as of Aug. 6, a large uptick from the previous year, authorities say.

“I encourage political and diplomatic efforts that seek to heal [the wound of migrant deaths] in a spirit of solidarity and brotherhood,” Pope Francis said on Sunday, “as well as the efforts of all those working to prevent shipwrecks and rescue migrants.”

[…]

CNA Staff, Jul 27, 2020 / 09:15 am (CNA).- The Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life launched a new campaign Monday urging young people to “send a hug” to elderly people isolated by the coronavirus pandemic.

In a press statement da… […]