Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Alois Ratzinger in 1927,served as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Churchfrom April 2005 through February 2013. Formerly he wasDean of the College of Cardinals, Prefect of theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and President ofthe International Theological Commission. An outstandingtheologian and teacher, he was one of the founders, alongwith Hans Urs von Balthasar and Henri de Lubac, of theinternational Catholic journal Communio, and he hasalso enjoyed a distinguished teaching career at suchuniversities as T?bingen and Regensburg in his homecountry of Germany.

David L. Schindler is Edouard Cardinal Gagnon Professor ofFundamental Theology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institutefor Studies on Marriage and Family at The CatholicUniversity of America, Washington DC.

Nicholas J. Healy Jr. is assistant professor of philosophy and culture at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, Catholic University of America, and author of The Eschatology of Hans Urs von Balthasar: Being as Communio