The news of Pope Emeritus Benedict’s passing arrived as I was completing the editor’s note for this issue. Benedict was a man of the church, known for his life of contemplative prayer, liturgical piety, and scholarly faith. In a different ecclesial context, the 2005 election of this scholar hierarch might have been welcomed widely in the academic community, as Catholic theologians have long hoped for a return to the fruitful collaboration between Magisterium and academy that had marked the conciliar period. However, Benedict’s long tenure as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, punctuated as it was by disciplinary action against purportedly errant theologians, had soured his relationship with many in our guild.