Notre Dame professor to receive Vatican’s Ratzinger Prize
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A University of Notre Dame professor has been selected to receive the 2024 Ratzinger Prize in Theology from the Vatican.
Cyril O’Regan will receive the award Nov. 22 during a ceremony at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City and will have a visit with Pope Francis earlier that day, the university said.
The award, which is the principal initiative of The Joseph Ratzinger Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation, recognizes scholars who have distinguished themselves through their research and published work as well as artists whose work reflects Christian inspiration.
“I am delighted and also feel incredibly honored given the caliber of scholars and thinkers who have received it before me,” O’Regan said in a news release.
The Vatican recognized O’Regan for both his teaching and research, the university said. Born in Ireland, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy from University College Dublin and a doctoral degree in theology at Yale University, where he served as a professor of religious studies. He joined Notre Dame’s Department of Theology in 1999.
“The theology department has been able to integrate scholarship into the complex mission of educating our students in the Christian tradition, while being open to other faiths, and realizing the challenges and opportunities presented by the modern world,” O’Regan said. “As a theologian, I could not imagine being anywhere else.”
Described by the university as an internationally recognized scholar in systematic theology, the history of Christianity and the intersection of theology and continental philosophy in the modern period, O’Regan is the author of numerous academic articles and books.
He is the second theologian from Notre Dame to receive the Ratzinger Prize. The Rev. Brian E. Daley received the award in 2012 from Pope Benedict XVI, the university said.
Also to receive a 2024 Ratzinger Prize is Japanese sculptor Etsurō Sotoo.