Michael Kelly

Irish theologian Fr Vincent Twomey SVD is among a select group of theologians from across the globe meeting with Pope Benedict this week.

The annual meeting of the ''Ratzinger Schulerkreis'' (Ratzinger student circle) brings together about three dozen scholars who did their doctoral dissertations under the direction of the former Professor Father Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict. The ''schulerkreis'' has met regularly since the late 1970s and the practice continued even after the former professor became Pope. Fr Twomey, who is emeritus Professor of Moral Theology at Maynooth, has been a regular guest at the ''schulerkreis'' since 1978.

Discussions at this year's meeting will focus on understanding the teaching of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and the balance it tried to strike between reform and maintaining tradition.

Archbishop Kurt Koch, the Swiss prelate chosen by the Pope to be the new head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity will be the featured speaker at the gathering.

Fr Twomey is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI Foundation under the chair of Cardinal Christoph Schonborn OP, Archbishop of Vienna. The Foundation is devoted to the promotion of theology in the spirit of Joseph Ratzinger.

The Pope's annual meetings with his former students are held behind closed doors, although participants have begun organising the publication of each session's papers. They will present the Pope with the book containing the 2008 presentations by two Protestant theologians from Germany who were asked to offer their reflections on the historicity of the New Testament and on Christ's own understanding of his passion and death.