Editing Pope Benedict XVI (section)

=== Encounter with Romano Guardini ===
From 1946 to 1951, he pursued studies in philosophy and theology at the [[University of Munich]] and at the [[:de:Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule|Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule]] in Freising.<ref name="biography">[https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/biography/documents/hf_ben-xvi_bio_20050419_short-biography-old.html Biography of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI] - official website of the [[Holy See]]</ref> During this time, Ratzinger was deeply influenced by the ideas of Italian-German philosopher [[Romano Guardini]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Intellectual Relationship between Joseph Ratzinger and Romano Guardini |url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/intellectual-relationship-between-joseph-ratzinger-and-romano-guardini-10147 |access-date=27 January 2023 |website=EWTN Global Catholic Television Network |language=en}}</ref> who was teaching in Munich while Ratzinger was a student there. The intellectual affinity between these two thinkers, who would later become decisive figures for the [[twentieth-century Catholic Church]], was preoccupied with rediscovering the essentials of Christianity: Guardini wrote his 1938 ''The Essence of Christianity'', while Ratzinger penned ''Introduction to Christianity'', three decades later in 1968. Guardini inspired many in the Catholic social-democratic tradition, particularly the [[Communion and Liberation]] movement in the [[New Evangelization]] encouraged under the papacy of the Polish [[Pope John Paul&nbsp;II]]. Ratzinger wrote an introduction to a 1996 reissue of Guardini's 1954 ''[[The Lord (book)|The Lord]]''.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Lord-None-Romano-Guardini/dp/0895267144 "The Lord by Roman Guardini, 1996, reprint of 1954 first English translation"]. Regnery Publishing.</ref> Alongside his brother Georg, he was ordained a priest on 29 June 1951 at the Cathedral in Freising. Two years later, in 1953, Ratzinger earned a [[Doctor of Theology]] degree at the University of Munich with the dissertation titled ''The People and House of God in St. Augustine's Doctrine of the Church''. In 1957, he obtained his [[habilitation]] teaching qualification from the University of Munich with a thesis on [[Bonaventure]].<ref name="biography" />