Archdiocese prepares to open Cause of Romano Guardini

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising is preparing to open the Cause of Romano Guardini, one of the most influential Catholic theologians of the 20th century.

According to German media reports, the archdiocese has appointed a postulator for the Cause of the Italian-born German theologian who influenced both Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx is expected to formally open the Cause before the end of the year.

Guardini was born in Verona in 1885. His first major work, The Spirit of the Liturgy, was published during the First World War.

After the War, he was appointed to a chair in Philosophy of Religion at the University of Berlin. But he was forced to resign in 1939 after clashing with the Nazis.

Following the Second World War, he became first a professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Tübingen and then a professor at the University of Munich. He died in Munich on October 1, 1968.

Many of Guardini’s major works have been translated into other languages, including The Lord and The End of the Modern World.

Pope Francis has said he is “convinced that Guardini is a thinker who has much to say to the people of our time, and not only to Christians”.

In the 1980s the future Pope began a doctoral dissertation on Guardini in Germany, but later abandoned it.

Benedict XVI has referred to Guardini as “a great figure, a Christian interpreter of the world and of his own time”. In 2000, he wrote his own book entitled The Spirit of the Liturgy, inspired by the theologian.

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising is also preparing to open the Cause of journalist Fritz Gerlich, who was killed at Dachau in 1934.