Carmen Álvarez Cuadrado
The year 2008. Benedict XVI had been invited to La Sapienza—one of Italy’s premier universities based in Rome—to inaugurate the academic year. And while the event happened on January 17 as planned, the German pope was not there to share an address.
LUCA CARUSO
Journalist
A few months before this ceremony was to take place, an open letter appeared in the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto written by an emeritus professor of La Sapienza, a famous physicist, Professor Marcello Cini, who challenged Pope Benedict’s participation for various reasons. Some methodological, others concerning content.
On one hand, Professor Cini criticized the university rector for personally inviting the pope without first consulting the academic authorities.
On the other hand, he referred to a speech given by the then-Cardinal Ratzinger at La Sapienza in 1990. Critics claimed that the cardinal had defended the Church’s condemnation of Galileo.
But the truth was more complex: Ratzinger had actually been quoting the philosopher Feyerabend in his effort to explain how even modern science had come to question Galileo.
This had already been previously clarified, but the controversy reached its peak through Wikipedia, which had presented the quote as though it were Ratzinger’s own words. Once the falsely attributed quote hit the news, everything blew up.
Professor Cini also highlighted statements by Ratzinger after he became pope, including a lecture he gave in Germany two years before:
LUCA CARUSO
He referred to certain statements made by Pope Benedict, in particular some passages from his 2006 lecture at the University of Regensburg, and challenged them. Therefore, he spoke out rather strongly against Pope Benedict’s participation in this academic ceremony.
Cini's letter to the rector opposing Benedict's participation was signed by 67 other professors out of the university’s more than 4,000 faculty members. Combined with media-fueled controversy, protests followed and so Benedict canceled his visit.
LUCA CARUSO
Benedict XVI was not forbidden to go, but the matter was evaluated by the Holy See, and the Pope himself, with his characteristic delicacy, believed that the necessary conditions were not present because the event could not have taken place peacefully, nor was the safety of those present guaranteed, since there were fears of clashes or protests. In light of this, it was decided to cancel the visit.
Pope Benedict, who had himself been a professor for about 25 years, still sent La Sapienza his speech despite not attending.
And while the school is not a pontifical university like the Gregorian or Angelicum, it still owes its historical patronage to the Catholic Church—specifically, the papacy.
LUCA CARUSO
Certainly it is an entirely secular university and no longer has any connection with the Church, but we must not forget history, because it was precisely the Church, Boniface VIII in 1303, that founded it, and from there comes the connection.
Eighteen years later, the pope is finally going to La Sapienza. It is Pope Leo XIV
