You're listening to a podcast on Catholic Saints. This podcast is produced by the Augustine Institute,

an Apostolate helping Catholics understand, live, and share their faith. Welcome, I'm Tim Gray,

president of the Augustine Institute, and joining me is Dr. Ben Acres, who is a professor of theology

here at the Augustine Institute, and we're going to be discussing St. Benedict. And St. Benedict has captured the

imagination of a lot of people in contemporary Catholicism, especially the Pope who took the name

after St. Benedict, Pope Benedict the 16th. He saw that St. Benedict was the patron for Europe,

and he saw that there's a need to re-evangelize Europe with the new evangelization that St. John Paul II called for. And he saw

that what happened with Benedict and his movement to kind of re-inspire civilization in Europe

and to keep the faith in the midst of the collapse of civilization and to help spread

that faith, Benedict was a model. And so Pope Benedict really took that name, I think, inspired by

and with an aspiration. Wouldn't you say, Ben? He was kind of aspiring towards a renewal that

Benedict brought about. He did, yeah, he did aspire for that renewal.

He was, uh, Pope, sorry, Joseph Ratzinger, Colonel Joseph Rastiger had, was receiving an award

in Subiaco the night before John Paul II died.

And Subiaco is famous for being known as the sacred cave, the holy cave that St. Benedict

spent three years praying in, uh, before he was called to be a, the head of that St. Benedict spent three years praying in before he was called

to be the head of all these other monasteries. And so Pope Benedict really chose his name,

thinking of St. Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism. So right before John Paul dies,

I mean, literally right before, Benedict was giving a speech in Subiaco, and he knows that that's the

origins of the Benedictine movement are right there. So in preparation, I know Joseph Ratziger was a very

prayerful, thoughtful scholar. He's probably pouring over and thinking about the life of Benedict. So that whole week

before John Paul dies, he's got Benedict in mind. And then John Paul dies, he has to oversee the

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