This doctoral thesis provides a systematic demonstration and evaluation of Joseph Ratzinger's / Pope Benedict XVI's personal-relational theological thought in its different aspects and through various areas of theology, accompanied by its characteristics in the conclusive part. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter gives an overview of the Biblical and historical development of the theological understanding of the human person, which places the theme of the thesis in a specific historical and theological context. It also provides the sources in which Ratzinger finds inspiration for his thought. It further presents the main phases, contents and representatives of the long and non-homogenous development of the theological understanding of the human person. The following chapters reconstruct and give a systematic presentation of the personalrelational paradigm of Ratzinger's theology, as it is articulated in various theological areas. The second chapter examines the theological-Trinitarian area, which is the source of Ratzinger's personal-relational thought. It further examines the Old Testament themes of God's name and the Covenant, essential for a relational image of God. Ratzinger considers the Trinity, as the culmination of faith in a personal God who is in a relationship, to be a hermeneutical interpretative tool of the entire reality, and he explains it with the help of the paradigm of communio, or God's “we” – composed of reality and love. The third chapter is dedicated to Ratzinger's “relational Christology”, at whose heart lies the identicalness of Jesus Christ and Son, i.e. the second divine person, the centre of whose person and existence result from a unique and permanent communication with the Father. Ratzinger bases his explanation of Christ's identity and deeds on his unity with the Father; he considers the Cross and Resurrection as the hermeneutic key to their identicalness, and perceives Christ as an “exemplary man” and the only starting point for a theological understanding of the man. Given that Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's Christology is based on the Holy Scripture and Christological dogmas, the thesis also includes his critique of the historical-critical method. The fourth chapter articulates Ratzinger's anthropological application of his personalrelational scheme of thought. It starts off with God's act of creation, which is the foundation of the man's capability of forming relationships with both God and others, and presents the act of faith as the man's answer to the dialogue that God opens through creation and revelation. Further articulation of Ratzinger's thought reveals that the basic existence of the faithful is an ecclesiastical one, through which subjects of faith are transformed into the community of the Church. Ratzinger explains this community (communio) of the Church using various paradigms: eucharistic ecclesiology, the Body of Christ, the Church as a sacrament of unity. Finally, in light of “dialogical immortality”, which has proved to be Ratzinger's central syntagm, which he developed with the intention of rehabilitating the expression of “the immortality of the soul”, this thesis examines Ratzinger's interpretation of eschatological questions. The final conclusion of the thesis underlines the characteristics of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's personal-relational paradigm. It takes a look at the specificity of Ratzinger's style of thought, and demonstrates the theological source of his personal-relational thought and its historical-salvation starting point. It further underlines the particularities and differences in the application of that paradigm of thought on the conception of the man. It goes on to explain the significance and actuality of the communio and love model, while also pointing to their analogic application in various areas of theology. Finally, it evaluates Ratzinger's all-encompassing theological vision. Three methods have been used in this thesis: the historical-theological method, the method of analysis and synthesis and the critical-evaluative method. Apart from being original, for this particular topic has not been dealt with so far in Croatian, the thesis gives its contribution to a more thorough and systematic understanding of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's theological thought, whose profile and integrity were made visible due to the personalrelational approach used here. In addition to that, the authentic translations provided in the thesis provide an insight into Ratzinger’s works which have not been translated into Croatian. Finally, the thesis offers a systematic overview of the historical-theological development of the perception of the person, which has never been compiled in such an extent in the Croatian language.