SCHUELERKREISE SEMINAR AT CASTEL GANDOLFO
VATICAN CITY, Sept. 14 (Apcom) - The Pope spends most of this weekend surrounded by about 40 of his former doctoral students in German universities in their yearly reunion and seminar.
The so-called Ratzinger Schuelerkreise has been meeting yearly for more than 20 years, and this is their third reunion at Castel Gandolfo.
Most prominent among the Pope's ex-students is Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, Archbishop of Vienna, who, as president of the Austrian bishops conference, was his host during his pilgrimage to
Austria last week.
This year, the Schuelerkreise will resume their discussion of evolution and creation, begun last year, with emphasis on the theological and philosophical aspects of the issue this time.
The proceedings of the 2006 seminar, which was focused on the scientific debate over evolution, have been published in a book,
Schoepfung und Evolution, which came out in Germany on the Pope's 80th birthday last April.
Lecturers invited this year include Ulrich Luecke, scientist-theologian from the University of Aix la Chapelle, and philosopher Rolf Schoenberger from the University of Regensburg.