Tuesday, October 04, 2011

The last of Ratzinger’s graduates has been appointed Bishop

The Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Barthélemy Adoukonou, presented his dissertation to the future Pope, shortly before being appointed Bishop of Munich.

On Saturday 8 October, at St. Peter’s, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, will ordain two new bishops: the new Secretary General of the Governatorate of the Vatican City State, Monsignor Giuseppe Sciacca, and the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Barthélemy Adoukonou, a priest from Benin.

Sixty nine year old Adoukonou, was a student of the then professor Joseph Ratzinger at the University of Regensburg. He was meant to present his dissertation to the current Pope in June 1977, but Ratzinger suddenly asked him to hurry up and finish it earlier so he could move the presentation forward to March. 

He only gave him a few more days to finish it. 

On the day of the presentation, as Adoukonou left the hall, he was met by a waiting crowd of journalists. It was not he who had become famous, but Ratzinger, who on 24 March 1977 was appointed Bishop of Munich.

Barthélemy Adoukonou kept in touch with his former professor, turned Archbishop, then a month later, Cardinal, going on to become Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and finally Pope in 2005, under the name of Benedict XVI.

At the end of 2009 when the nomination of the new Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture was due to take place, its President Gianfranco Ravasi, currently a cardinal, spoke to the Pope, suggesting the possible addition of a figure from Africa, to assist the Secretary. 

An important sign, in a Roman Curia that was at risk of becoming too italianised. Benedict XVI seized the opportunity to: “I have a candidate,” the Pope affirmed, giving Adoukonou’s name to Ravasi. Thus, on 3 December two years ago, the priest became Secretary and is now being promoted to Bishop.

Adoukonou has taken part in the meetings between Ratzinger’s former students, the so-called Schülerkreis, including the one which was held at Castel Gandolfo a month ago.

He had really worked his socks off to finish that dissertation in time. 

But he did well to trust in that professor and theologian turned cardinal and Pope.