On December 12, Leo XIV will present Riccardo Muti with the 2025 Ratzinger Prize during the Christmas Concert, which the maestro will perform that afternoon in the Paul VI Hall. The announcement comes from the Joseph Ratzinger–Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation, in a statement reporting that the Augustinian Pope has approved the awarding of the prize to the conductor, whom his Bavarian predecessor—passionate and knowledgeable about music—held in “sincere esteem". Muti, for his part, reciprocated this esteem with repeated expressions of attention and affection, even when Ratzinger, as Pope Emeritus, resided in the “Mater Ecclesiae” monastery in the Vatican. "I have consistently adhered to and profoundly admired Benedict XVI", Muti affirmed, observing that his final private audience with the theologian Pontiff provided him with "a memory filled with faith and hope". Established in 2011, the "Ratzinger Prize" is given yearly to individuals in the field of Christian-inspired culture and art.