Joseph Ratzinger had an enormous impact on the Universal Church – as a theologian and as pope. Yet as consequential as his papacy was, it can be argued that the most important event of his post-conciliar career took place when he was still a cardinal and the head of the CDF under Pope John Paul II: the famous theological debate he had with Cardinal Walter Kasper in 2001 in the pages of America magazine concerning the proper relationship between the local and the universal Church. This event may not have seemed quite as important in its original setting, but the passage of ecclesial time and further events have sharpened its significance.
