Pope says theology is valuable guide to life

Published: 2007-03-22

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Theology is not a specialized discipline earmarked for a few -- it is a valuable guide to life and can answer humanity's deepest questions, said Pope Benedict XVI. Theology, or the study of the nature of God and religious truth, is a great endeavor, he told a group of theology professors from the University of Tubingen, Germany, during a March 21 private audience at the Vatican. While the text of the pope's improvised remarks in German was not immediately made available, Vatican Radio gave a summary of his talk later that day. Pope Benedict taught dogmatic theology at Tubingen from 1966 to 1969. At the special audience, he told the 18-person delegation that their meeting reminded him of those earlier times and made him feel young again. The pope said he had always felt teaching was his vocation. "However, the will of God wanted something else," he said. But, he said, he saw that teaching theology and his own pastoral duties as pope are linked.

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