Professor Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz (a German philosopher) and Professor Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger (a German biblical scholar) received the 2021 Ratzinger Prize, awarded by the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation. Also present for the ceremony were the 2020 prize winners, French philosopher Jean-Luc Marion and Australian theologian Tracey Rowland, as the 2020 ceremony was cancelled because of the pandemic.

In his address, Pope Francis paid tribute to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose pontificate was “characterized by a luminous magisterium and an unfailing love for the Truth.”