What are the ideas shaping contemporary Catholic Social Theory and ecclesial governance practices in the new Leonine era? Join renowned Australian theologian Tracey Rowland, series editor of the collected works of Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), for a discussion of intellectual influences—especially the writings of Catholic philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre (1929-2025)—helpful to understanding recent papal documents like the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas.

Tracey Rowland was born in Ipswich, Australia in 1963. She graduated with degrees in law and politics from the University of Queensland, in political philosophy and German language from the University of Melbourne, and in theology from the Universities of Cambridge and the Lateran. Her civil PhD was conferred by the University of Cambridge and her pontifical STL and STD degrees were conferred by the Pontifical Lateran University. She also holds a Diploma in Educational Studies from the University of London. She wrote her Masters’ thesis on the ideas of the intellectuals who led the reform movements in Central Europe in the 1980s and her first doctoral dissertation synthesized the philosophy of culture of Alasdair MacIntyre with the theology of culture of Joseph Ratzinger. Her first lecturing position was in the field of Russian and Central European history and politics at the University of Monash in Melbourne, Australia.

She has published eight books and over one hundred and fifty articles in scientific journals and edited collections. Her work intersects the fields of political philosophy, theories of culture, and theological anthropology. Her most recent book is titled Beyond Kant and Nietzsche: the Munich Defence of Christian Humanism (London: Bloomsbury, 2021). She has also authored numerous publications on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger and is a member of the editorial board of the English-language edition of the Communio journal that was founded by Joseph Ratzinger, among others, in 1972.

From 2014–2019 she was a member of the International Theological Commission. In 2009 she was awarded the Archbishop Michael J. Miller Prize for the Promotion of Faith and Culture by the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. In 2012 she was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, and in 2020 she was a recipient of the Ratzinger Prize for Theology. She is a member of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta.

Her current post is a professorship in the School of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame (Australia).

Image: Portrait of Pope Leo XIII, 1892. Courtesy Library of Congress