Today, Easter Sunday, the Pope Emeritus celebrates his 90th birthday. Throughout his short eight-year pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI was often criticised by a hostile establishment which rarely engaged with the profound meaning of his message. His milestone birthday presents an opportunity to re-assess his prolific output and address its continuing relevance.

Just over four years ago, on February 11, 2013, he announced that he would relinquish the See of Peter – the first Pope to do so in over 600 years. Less than three weeks later, he was addressing a sizeable crowd in Castel Gandolfo for the very last time. After 8pm of the same evening, he was no longer Pope.

His Papacy seems to have been all but forgotten outside Catholic circles. Occasionally, his name surfaces in the media. However, it is always mentioned to reinforce old prejudices; that he was “out of touch”, a “hardliner” and “God’s Rottweiler”.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Benedict XVI is one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century. His work touches upon many aspects of human life – social relations, the economy, culture and political systems.

His image as an inflexible man does not do justice to his openness to the world. His dialogues with Jürgen Habermas and Marcello Pera were published in book form and are a prototype of intelligent and meaningful dialogue. His guests to lunch included the journalist Oriana Fallaci and the controversial theologian Hans Kung – both critics of the Church or of his Papacy.

Benedict XVI can still challenge our society for he goes right into the heart of the problems which make our societies and our politics less humane and more aggressive.

In September 2006, during a meeting with the representatives of the world of science at the University of Regensburg, Pope Benedict delivered one of the most misquoted speeches of his papacy. His lectio magistralis reflected on the interplay of faith and reason.

Events prove that Benedict XVI was far-sighted rather than unreasonable. The failure of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’, the strengthening of jihadist groups, the establishment of Islamic State and the proliferation of home-grown terror groups claiming Islamic identity have reignited the question of the link between violence and religion and whether faith is incompatible with reason.

Benedict XVI can still challenge our society for he goes right into the heart of the problems which make our societies and our politics less humane and more aggressive

Benedict XVI rightly asserted that “violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul”. However, he also opens up an interesting discussion over the different interpretation of the nature of God which could explain the theological underpinning behind such recent phenomena.

He criticised the Western trend which seeks to exclude all religion from public discourse. In profoundly religious cultures “this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason” is perceived “as an attack on their most profound convictions”. He concludes that such an attitude could hinder dialogue since reason “which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures”.

With the benefit of hindsight, in this era of profound divisions between cultures and religion, his words are prophetic.

In his address to the Members of both Houses of Parliament during his visit to the United Kingdom in 2010, Benedict XVI touched upon another important balance which strengthens societies: that between “the legitimate claims of government and the rights of those subject to it”.

He observed that societies seeking to advance the common good must pose some questions: “What are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved?”

He underlines one of the dangers which modern society faces: “If the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident – herein lies the real challenge for democracy.”

Taking a cue from the global financial crisis, Benedict XVI argued for solid ethical foundations rather than inadequate “short-term solutions to complex social and ethical problems”. The moral consequences and the ethical dimensions of policy-making have “far-reaching consequences that no government can afford to ignore”.

In the realm of public life, Benedict XVI draws from Catholic tradition and argues that striking the right balance between faith and reason is vital. Indeed, he argues that religion “is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital contributor to the national conversation”.

He acknowledges that religion can sow division if this is distorted through sectarianism and fundamentalism. However, these distortions arise only when “insufficient attention is given to the purifying and structuring role of reason within religion”.

Government structures, although supposedly underpinned by reason and rationality, are also prone to such distortions when they are manipulated by ideology or when they do not take into account the dignity of the human person. Indeed, when they do so, they misuse reason and pave the way for grave social injustices.

An underlying theme of the former Pontiff’s work lies in his call for dialogue between “the world of reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief”. Both “need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilisation”.

Pope Benedict XVI’s call for engagement paved the way for Pope Francis’ attitude towards public life. Despite the different styles and approaches, Francis’ challenge towards the “globalisation of indifference”, his invitation to be close to “the periphery” and his direct approach to many social ailments inevitably draw on the need to consider the ethical and the moral dimension of several political decisions.

In his recent book-length interview with Peter Seewald, the Pope Emeritus said that “if a pope is only getting applause, he has to ask himself whether or not he is doing things right”. The applause for Benedict XVI was more muted than it is for the incumbent. Nonetheless, we owe him a huge debt of gratitude for his work and his witness.

André DeBattista is an independent researcher in politics and international relations.

andre.deb@gmail.com