Schoolmates

by Gianni Valente

Professor Joseph Ratzinger and his former students, including those of the early days in Bonn and Münster, continued to meet up once a year for a study session devoted to specific themes, even when the one-time professor had become first bishop and then cardinal prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The tradition did not stop even after the election of Joseph Ratzinger to the papal throne. Here is a group photo of the annual assembly at the pontifical mansion of Castel Gandolfo in September 2005. On that occasion the matter for discussion was the conception of God in Islam, with particular reference to the difference in the concept of revelation in the Koran and in Christian revelation. On the agenda for the next meeting – to be held in early September, again at Castel Gandolfo, strictly behind closed doors – are recent developments in the debate on creation and evolution.