June 21, 2012. (Romereports.com) In the early days of September, about 30 former students of the Pope will meet with him in Castel Gandolfo to reflect on the Catholic Church's relations with Anglicans and Protestants.

In 1970, Joseph Ratzinger was a professor at the University of Regensburg in Germany. That summer he met with his doctoral students to have an open discussion on theology, a tradition that has the group still continues.


It's something that has carried on through the life of Joseph Ratzinger. From when he became Archbishop of Munich in 1977, even when he moved to Rome in 1982, and through his election as pope in 2005.

While the pope usually doesn't take part in all of the meetings, he celebrates Mass with them and takes part in at least one of the closed meetings.

According to the French agency I.Media, one of the special guests this summer is the German Cardinal Walter Kasper, a former president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, and a close knowledge of the Lutheran faith.


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