Almería will host the International Benedict XVI Congress from October 25 to 29, 2026, an initiative organized by the Providentia Association, the International Joseph Ratzinger Foundation, and the Catholic Association of Propagandists (ACdP). It will bring together some of the leading experts on the thought of the Pope Emeritus, along with bishops, cardinals, academics, and representatives from the cultural world.
Over five days, the gathering will address some of the major contributions of Benedict XVI’s pontificate, especially in areas such as the relationship between faith and reason, the liturgy, freedom, evangelization, and the mission of the Church in contemporary society. The program will combine academic sessions with liturgical celebrations, concerts, and various institutional events to be held both in the capital of Almería and in other municipalities of the province.
Pablo Blanco, Restán, Rouco Varela and Martínez Camino, among the speakers
The inaugural lecture will be delivered by Pablo Blanco Sarto, recipient of the Ratzinger Prize for Theology and one of the foremost specialists on the work of Joseph Ratzinger. Throughout the congress, journalist José Luis Restán will also speak, reflecting on freedom in the thought of Benedict XVI; Alejandro Sada Mier y Terán, with a lecture dedicated to the joy of faith; and Marcela Jiménez Unquiles, who will analyze the twentieth anniversary of the address delivered by the German Pope at the University of Regensburg.
Participants will also include Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, who will deliver the lecture “Church: mystery, communion and mission”, and the auxiliary bishop of Madrid, Monsignor Juan Antonio Martínez Camino, who will address The Spirit of the Liturgy, one of Joseph Ratzinger’s most influential works. The program also includes an intervention by Jaime Mayor Oreja on the role of the Christian in today’s world.
Liturgical celebrations and public events
Eucharistic celebrations will also occupy a prominent place in the congress. The archbishop emeritus of Santiago de Compostela, Monsignor Julián Barrio Barrio; the bishop of Zamora, Monsignor Fernando Valera Sánchez; Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela; and the bishop of Almería, Monsignor Antonio Gómez Cantero, will preside over the various Masses planned during the event.
The program will begin with an extraordinary concert of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem in Almería Cathedral, performed by the Coral Orquesta “Discantus” of Murcia and the Symphony Orchestra of the Catholic University of Murcia.
Alongside its academic and liturgical dimensions, the congress will include several events open to the public. Among them are the unveiling of a monument dedicated to Benedict XVI in Almería’s Parque Nicolás Salmerón, another monument in Benahadux linking the figure of Saint Joseph with that of the Pope Emeritus, and the naming of a street in honor of Benedict XVI in the municipality of El Ejido.
Five days to delve deeper into the thought of Joseph Ratzinger
The organizers have conceived the congress as a space for reflection on the relevance of Benedict XVI’s magisterium and its influence on the life of the Church and on the dialogue between Christianity and contemporary culture.
The initiative is jointly promoted by the Providentia Association, the International Joseph Ratzinger Foundation, and the Catholic Association of Propagandists—entities that for years have driven academic and cultural activities aimed at studying and disseminating the theological and intellectual legacy of the Pope Emeritus.