Pope Francis is a patient pastor. Until he isn’t. His new apostolic letter, Traditionis Custodes, in which Francis communicates “the firm decision to abrogate all the norms, instructions, permissions and customs that precede the present [document] and declare that the liturgical books promulgated by the saintly Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II … constitute Read more
Thumping the armrest of his chair, Emeritis Pope, Benedict XVI smacked down conservative Catholics who failed to accept the legitimacy of Pope Francis. Benedict called the conservative Catholics “fanatics”. Some hardline conservatives Catholics are unhappy with Pope Francis and have often voiced doubts about whether Benedict stepped down willingly. “Some of my more fanatical friends Read more
“Pastorally dangerous” and “unhelpful” is how South African ethicist Anthony Egan SJ is labelling the Archdiocese of New Orleans claim the Johnson & Johnson Covid Vaccine is “morally compromised”. He made the claims in America Magazine. Egan’s irritation is that just one day before the US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorisation to a Read more
Emeritus Pope Benedict’s papal biographer, Peter Seewald says the former pope as “extremely frail”. Seewald’s comments are reported in the Monday edition of the German Passauer Neue Presse. He visited the former pope in Rome on Saturday to present him with his biography. Benedict, 93, reportedly became ill after visiting his sick brother in Germany Read more
Retired Pope Benedict XVI followed the funeral of his brother, Georg Ratzinger, via livestreaming, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA. Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg said Pope Benedict, 93, was connected to the Mass taking place for his older brother July 8 in the Regensburg Cathedral. Msgr. Georg Ratzinger died on July 1 at Read more
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, 93, left the Vatican for the first time last week since his 2013 resignation. Benedict went to visit his older seriously ill brother, Msgr Georg Ratzinger who is being cared for in his home. The Vatican says the Emeritus Pope’s visit was “purely private” and he would stay in the Bavarian Read more
Loud headlines in both the religious and secular press last week repeated a trope that has become familiar over the past few years: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was speaking out in dramatic ways. Benedict was quoted as saying that the church is threatened by “a worldwide dictatorship of seemingly humanist ideologies,” using same-sex marriage, abortion Read more
It was only a matter of time. Pope Francis has finally lost his patience and gotten rid of Archbishop Georg Ganswein as prefect of the Papal Household. According to the German weekly, Die Tagespost, the pope put the 63-year-old on “indefinite administrative leave.” He did so, the paper said, because of the German prefect’s involvement Read more
The Vatican is saying little about a change in duties for Archbishop Gänswein. The Holy See Press Office says the long-time secretary of emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has had his duties as prefect of the papal household “reallocated to others”. It is downplaying 63-year-old Georg Gänswein’s absence from several papal audiences over the past few Read more
The opulent Roman salon of a wealthy German princess is the location for regular gatherings of a group of ultra-conservative Catholics — including Steve Bannon, former White House strategist once favoured by President Donald Trump — where they plot their campaign to undermine the Papacy of Francis. She is Princess Gloria of Thurn and Taxis, Read more