His Holiness Benedict XVI Will Offer Ratzinger-Student-Circle Mass

The customary student conference begins on August 29^th.

Vatican (German Vatican Radio [Translated by Plinthos]). This year's meeting of the annual Ratzinger Student Circle (Ratzinger-Schülerkreise) begins on August 29^th at Castel Gandolfo. For the first time Benedict XVI will not be participating in the lectures, as coordinator Father Stephan Horn reported last Thursday.

On Sunday, September 1^st, however, the Emeritus Pontiff plans to celebrate Mass at the Vatican with the 150 participants. The Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, and Cardinal Kurt Koch will attend.

This year’s  theme for the conferences is "The God Question on the Horizon of Secularization." The main speaker will be the retired historian, philosopher and scholar of religion Remi Brague. These regular meetings with previous academic students began in 1977 and were among the few fixed dates the former Professor Ratzinger continued to keep as Pope.

Plinthos--Presumably this means that we should expect a homily from the Pope Emeritus, his first public words since the historic February 11^th retirement.