Notre Dame theologian John Cavadini to receive 2026 Ratzinger Prize
The Vatican Foundation Joseph Ratzinger‑Benedict XVI announced that Notre Dame professor John Cavadini will receive the 2026 Ratzinger Prize. Pope Leo XIV will present the award on December 19 at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. Cavadini, a patristic theologian since 1990, is the third Notre Dame faculty member to win the prize, following Cyril O’Regan and Brian E. Daley. The announcement emphasizes the global influence of American theologians and the renewed interest in Ratzinger’s legacy ahead of his 100th birth anniversary.
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John C. Cavadini, a University of Notre Dame theologian specializing in patristic theology and St. Augustine, has been selected to receive the 2026 Ratzinger Prize. Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to present the award on Dec. 19 at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. 1 2 3
The Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation announced Cavadini’s selection at a Sept. 22 press briefing at the Holy See Press Office in Rome. His choice was made by the foundation’s Scientific Committee and approved by Pope Leo XIV. 1 2
The Ratzinger Prize was established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 and recognizes distinguished achievement in theological scholarship, research, and related fields including patrology, philosophy, Scripture, law, sociology, music, architecture, and sculpture. Vatican News identifies Cavadini as the 32nd recipient. 2 3
Cavadini will be the third Notre Dame faculty member to receive the prize, after Brian E. Daley, S.J., in 2012 and Cyril O’Regan in 2024. The university has had more recipients than any other institution since the award was created. 1
Cavadini has taught at Notre Dame since 1990 and has focused on patristic and early medieval theology, the theology of St. Augustine, and biblical and patristic exegesis. He directed Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life from 2000 through 2026. 1 2
His publications include Visioning Augustine; Explorations in the Theology of Benedict XVI; and Roots: Catholic Youth Evangelization in a Post-Pandemic World. He has also written on contemporary theology, including the work of Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. 2 3
Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cavadini to a five-year term on the International Theological Commission in 2009 and named him to the Order of the Knights of St. Gregory the Great. Cavadini has also served as a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine since 2006. 2
Foundation president Father Roberto Regoli cited the rigor of Cavadini’s publications, his commitment to university teaching, his academic expertise, pastoral engagement, and lifelong service to the Church. Regoli also described him as a scholar whose work connects the Church Fathers with theology in the 21st century. 1 2 3
Cavadini said he had sought to follow the example of Origen of Alexandria, who described the theologian as a vir ecclesiasticus, or “man of the Church.” He said his work at Notre Dame allowed him to live simultaneously as a man of the Church and a man of academia, and that he was grateful the award recognized both dimensions of his vocation. 2 3
He also expressed gratitude to his students and Notre Dame colleagues, saying he hoped the honor would reflect credit on the Virgin Mary, the university’s patroness. 2
The award is part of a series of initiatives leading up to the centenary of Joseph Ratzinger’s birth on April 16, 2027. Foundation officials said academic interest in Ratzinger’s work has grown internationally, with new Ratzinger chairs, doctoral dissertations, books, and editions of his writings appearing in Europe, the United States, Latin America, and Africa. 1 3
Several conferences are planned for November 2026. Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota will host “Beauty Will Save Us: Wonder and Hope in the Works of Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI” from Nov. 2–4, followed by a Nov. 4–6 conference on “Joseph Ratzinger and His Sources,” sponsored by the Diocese of Winona-Rochester and Word on Fire. 2 3
A third symposium, “Constellations of Hope: Africa and the Renewal of the Church in the Vision of Benedict XVI,” is scheduled for Nov. 18–21 in Nairobi and is co-sponsored by Tangaza University and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. The foundation also plans major events in Rome in 2027, including concerts, academic activities, and a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 16. 3
Examine Catholic patristic theology’s influence on contemporary Church life
Catholic patristic theology continues to shape contemporary Church life not by requiring a return to the fourth century, but by providing enduring ways of reading Scripture, celebrating the liturgy, understanding the Church, forming Christians, evangelizing culture, and addressing social injustice. Its influence is best understood as a “retrieval”: recovering the Fathers’ principles and vision for present circumstances rather than simply repeating their formulas.
The Church regards the Fathers as privileged witnesses to apostolic Tradition. Their writings illuminate how revealed truth was transmitted, interpreted, prayed, and lived in both East and West. The International Theological Commission therefore identifies them as a specific reference point for Catholic theology, while noting that their legitimate diversity—such as the traditions of Alexandria and Antioch—remained united in the one faith.
This affects contemporary theology in two important ways.
First, patristic interpretation helps prevent Scripture from being reduced either to private opinion or to a merely historical document. The Fathers read the Bible within the worshipping Church, in relation to Christ, and as a unified account of salvation. Pope Paul VI emphasized that their study deepens understanding of Scripture and that their agreement was especially significant for interpreting it.
Second, the Fathers model theology as both intellectually serious and spiritually transformative. For them, doctrine was not detached speculation: catechesis, theology, Scripture, liturgy, spirituality, and pastoral care belonged together. Contemporary Catholic formation therefore benefits when theology leads not merely to information but to conversion, prayer, holiness, and participation in the Church’s life.
Their authority, however, must be understood correctly. The Fathers are not infallible in every individual statement, and they sometimes disagree. Their importance lies especially in their collective witness and their closeness to the apostolic foundations. The Church has repeatedly treated the consensus of the Fathers as a guide to orthodoxy and to the interpretation of Scripture.
One of the most significant modern effects of patristic theology has been the renewal of Catholic ecclesiology—the theology of the Church. Twentieth-century theologians influenced by the Fathers recovered a vision of the Church as koinonia, or communion: the mystical Body of Christ gathered in the Holy Spirit, rather than merely an institution defined by legal structures.
This perspective strongly influenced the Second Vatican Council. Lumen gentium reflects the imagery and spirit of ancient Christian literature even where it does not explicitly cite particular Fathers. Contemporary Catholic emphasis on the People of God, the communion of the baptized, collegiality among bishops, the vocation of the laity, and the unity of the universal and local Church is therefore partly indebted to this patristic recovery.
Patristic theology also renewed the Church’s understanding of the Eucharist. Henri de Lubac’s study of ancient Christian thought re-emphasized the intrinsic relationship between Eucharist and Church: the Eucharist builds the unity of Christ’s Body rather than serving as an exclusively individual devotional experience.
This has practical consequences for parish and diocesan life. Participation in Mass should form a genuinely ecclesial people—one reconciled with God and with one another. The Eucharist cannot be separated from charity, unity, responsibility for the poor, or active belonging to the Christian community.
The Fathers influence contemporary worship both directly and indirectly. Their biblical language, sacramental theology, preaching, hymnody, and understanding of Christian initiation continue to inform the Church’s liturgical texts and spiritual traditions. Their example also encourages a liturgy that engages the whole person: mind, will, imagination, body, and affections.
Their spirituality is particularly important in an age marked by distraction and religious individualism. Patristic Christianity joined contemplation, ascetic discipline, Scripture, sacramental worship, and life in the community. Hans Urs von Balthasar described the patristic period as a form of Christianity in which mystical and liturgical life were closely integrated.
This does not mean idealizing the early Church. The Fathers lived amid theological conflict, political pressures, cultural divisions, and serious moral failures. A romantic attempt to reproduce their society would be historically and ecclesially misguided. Balthasar warns against treating the Church’s later development as a simple falling away from an original golden age. Catholic tradition recognizes the Spirit’s guidance throughout the Church’s history.
The contemporary value of patristic spirituality lies instead in its integration of belief and life. It challenges Catholics to recover silence, prayer, fasting, mercy, scriptural meditation, and the pursuit of holiness as central—not optional—dimensions of Christian identity.
The Fathers offer a model for evangelization in a pluralistic and increasingly secular society. They did not merely repeat biblical formulas; they translated the Gospel into the intellectual and cultural language of their world while remaining faithful to Christ. Their example has been described as a foundational instance of Christian inculturation: engaging existing categories and transforming them from within.
This is particularly relevant to the Church’s new evangelization. Contemporary theology should neither abandon the tradition in pursuit of superficial novelty nor treat patristic language as a substitute for addressing present questions. Khaled Anatolios argues that the most fruitful retrieval is not simply the repetition of patristic conclusions but the recovery of their method: a way of discerning and expressing the “newness” of the Gospel in changing circumstances.
The Fathers thus encourage the Church to speak credibly to modern science, politics, literature, economics, and technology. They demonstrate that fidelity and creativity are not opposites. Christian doctrine can enter new cultures without surrendering its identity, provided evangelization remains centered on Christ and the Church’s apostolic faith.
Patristic theology also affects contemporary Catholic social teaching. The Fathers’ reflections on wealth, greed, detachment, poverty, and the unity of the human community provide principles for evaluating economic life today. Studies of Basil, John Chrysostom, Clement, Ambrose, and others show that patristic teaching offers resources for addressing usury, excessive wealth, social inequality, and indifference to the poor.
Their social thought is not a ready-made policy program. Ancient economic conditions differ substantially from those of modern capitalism, welfare states, and global finance. Nevertheless, their fundamental convictions remain challenging:
Patristic theology therefore strengthens contemporary Catholic social ethics by supplying a theological vision of human beings as members of one body in Christ, rather than isolated consumers or competitors.
A responsible use of the Fathers requires discernment. Their writings reflect particular historical settings and sometimes contain limitations regarding politics, science, women, religious minorities, or social institutions. They should not be selectively quoted to settle modern disputes without attention to context, development of doctrine, and the Church’s current Magisterium.
There is also a danger of using “the Fathers” polemically—as a weapon against later Catholic developments, the Second Vatican Council, or legitimate theological diversity. Catholic retrieval is not antiquarianism. It does not imply that everything ancient is automatically superior, nor that the Church must abandon medieval, modern, or contemporary insights.
The proper approach is continuity through development. The Fathers help the Church test whether contemporary ideas remain rooted in the apostolic Gospel, while the Church’s living Tradition helps interpret how their insights should be applied today.
Patristic theology influences contemporary Church life most fruitfully when it restores unity: unity between Scripture and doctrine, Eucharist and Church, theology and holiness, evangelization and culture, faith and social responsibility. The Fathers do not provide a blueprint for recreating the past. They offer a deeply Christ-centered way of thinking and living that can renew the Church’s present mission.
Their enduring contribution is therefore not simply a collection of ancient texts, but a vision of Christianity as a living communion in which truth is contemplated, celebrated, embodied, and proclaimed.