Vatican City, Nov 30, 2005 / 22:00 pm
In a meeting today with members of the International Theological Commission, Pope Benedict stressed the need for theologians to perform their work in union with, and under the authority of the Church Magesterium and sacred tradition.
The commission is being headed for the first time by an American--Archbishop William Levada, who replaced former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict.
Speaking on the importance of academic study, the Pope told the group that "the theologian's work must be carried out in communion with, and under the authority of, the living Magisterium of the Church.”
“To consider theology as a private concern of the theologian”, he said, “is to misunderstand its very nature. Only within the ecclesial community, in communion with the legitimate pastors of the Church does theological work have meaning.”