Paralelismos y divergencias entre la encíclica «Spe salvi» y escritos anteriores de Joseph Ratzinger

This article presents the results of an intertextual study comparing the text of Benedict XVI’s Spe salvi with earlier texts published by him as Joseph Ratzinger. The comparison shows that, decades before publishing Spe salvi, our author had already enunciated certain fundamental theses regarding worldly utopias and freedom’s role in the diversification of human final destinies. On the other hand, in the encyclical he does not develop his speculation on the nature of the human soul, as he does in earlier works. The presence of specific themes in Spe salvi and the absence of others may be indicative of the long-term concerns of Ratzinger/ Benedict XVI, as well as the varying dogmatic weight he attributes to his own eschatological conceptions.