On 16 June, at a ceremony in Salzburg Cathedral, Josef Roetzer will receive from Bishop Klaus Küng of Feldkirch, president of the Austrian Episcopal Commission for the pastoral care of the family, the pontifical award of the Order of Gregory the Great, instituted by Gregory XVI in 1831 and then revised and reconfirmed by St. Pius X in 1905. It is the highest award that the Pope can make to lay people who have distinguished themselves in the Church for having contributed to the progress of humanity by their activities as scholars or by their research. Roetzer is a physician in Linz who for over 40 years has devoted himself to studying natural birth control methods. In Austria he has founded the INER (Institut für Natürliche Empfängnisregelung Roetzer) for the study and diffusion of such methods. The Institute has been active in Italy since 1986 with offices in Verona, Brescia, Senigallia, Trento, Salerno, Rovigo and Padua.
