Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gave his final September Speech last week in Rome. Benedict didn’t give the speech himself. His private secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, spoke at the launch of the Italian edition of The Benedict Option, Rod Dreher’s much discussed book about how St Benedict’s withdrawal from a corrupt and declining Rome offers a model for Christians today.
For many years now one of my favoured lecture topics is the “September Speeches” of Benedict XVI. The quintet forms an accessible entry point to the thought of Ratzinger/Benedict on how biblical faith relates to reason, science, politics and law.
