Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, 82, has been announced as one of three winners of the 2017 Ratzinger Prize awarded by the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation.

Also to win the prize this year were German Lutheran theologian Theodor Dieter and theologian and German Catholic priest Karl-Heinz Menke, foundation president father Federico Lombardi announced during a press conference at the Holy See on Tuesday, according to a foundation press release.

The Ratzinger Prize, which was established by the Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation in 2010 and first awarded in 2011, is awarded to "people who answered to the challenge of fostering a deep dialogue among science, theology and philosophy."

VES/ERR News