Benedict XVI has awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal to Fr D Vincent Twomey, SVD, professor emeritus of moral theology at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Co Kildare, and chairman of the Fota International Liturgy Conference. The medal was given to Fr Twomey for outstanding services rendered to the Church and to the Holy Father. Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, conferred the award in Rome on October 10. Born in Cork in 1941, Fr Twomey attended the Christian Brothers College. He entered the Divine Word Missionaries in 1963. After philosophical studies at Donamon, Co Roscommon, and theological studies at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, he was ordained on January 6 1970. After ordination he spent a term in Münster, Germany, studying under Karl Rahner, before transferring to the University of Regensburg for doctoral studies under the supervision of the then Professor Joseph Ratzinger. On completing his doctorate in 1979 he taught at the regional seminary of Papua New Guinea and in the Solomon Islands. Having taught at the theology faculty in Mödling, Austria, in 1983, he was appointed lecturer in moral theology at Maynooth and subsequently became a professor. He was also visiting professor at the theology faculty of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.