The 12th volume of the collected works of Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Benedict XVI, was presented in the Vatican. On Wednesday the Vatican press office hosted a meeting with journalists to present the German-language volume of Ratzinger’s “opera omnia,” titled, “Kunder des Wortes und Diener eurer Freude — Theologie und Spiritualitat des Weihesakramentes” (Heralds of the Word and Servants of Your Joy). The press conference was also called to publicize the upcoming Nov. 10-13 plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture. The assembly will focus on the theme, “The Culture of Communication and New Languages.” Several Church leaders took part in the press conference: Cardinal-designate Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture; Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller of Regensburg, Germany, member of the same pontifical council and curator of Joseph Ratzinger’s opera omnia project; Monsignor Pasquale Iacobone, head of the Department of Art and Faith of the Pontifical Council for Culture; and Richard Rouse, head of the Department of Communication and Languages of the same dicastery.
In his intervention, Bishop Muller said that the theme of the latest volume of Ratzinger’s complete works is about the theology and spirituality of the sacrament of holy orders. He noted that, as Benedict XVI affirmed June 11 at the closing of the Year for Priests, the priesthood is “not simply a ‘job’ but a sacrament: God makes use of a poor man in order to be, through him, present for men and to act in their favor.” The prelate explained that the text is divided in three parts. In section A, titled “Theology of the Sacrament of Holy Orders,” Ratzinger “illustrates positively the biblical foundation and the coherent historical-dogmatic development of the sacrament of holy orders.” In section B, titled “Servants of Your Joy,” there is a “collection of meditations” on “priestly spirituality, already published before as a single work with the same title.”
Section C gathers several sermons given on the occasion of priestly and diaconal consecrations, first Masses and jubilees.
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 4, 2010 (Zenit.org)