Benedict XVI is writing the third part of his essay on Jesus and preparing texts and reflections for the Post-Synodal Exhortation on the Middle East, the Year of Faith and the Second Vatican Council’s 50th anniversary The Pope arrived just last Tuesday at Castel Gandolfo, the beautiful town south-east of Rome where he usually spends Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Pope Benedict XVI’
Slovakian archbishop removed in unclear circumstances
Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
A public prosecutor in Slovakia has begun investigating alleged financial irregularities in the Trnava archdiocese of deposed Archbishop Robert Bezak, but the archbishop’s supporters claim any irregularities occurred before he was appointed three years ago. Pope Benedict removed the Slovakian archbishop from office on July 2. A communiqué from the papal nunciature in Slovakia nine Read more
VatiLeaks: a Space and Information Age effect
Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
Gossipy rumors have been mixed with more than a pinch of midsummer madness and served, stirred but not chilled, as a James Bond-like intrigue cocktail for Vatican conspiracy theorists who like to keep a glow on their paranoia. The main ingredients are the leaked confidential papers of Pope Benedict XVI in an incident that has Read more
German magazine sued by the Pope for Vatileaks satire
Friday, July 13th, 2012
A German satirical magazine’s attempt to poke fun at Pope Benedict over the Vatileaks scandal has resulted in legal action — from the Pope himself. A law firm in the German city of Bonn was contracted to act for the Pope against Titanic magazine for front and back covers that, in the words of a Read more
Women could have prevented Church scandals, says journalist
Friday, July 13th, 2012
Sex-abuse and other scandals that trouble the Catholic Church could have been avoided if women had been in positions of power, according to the woman who edits a new supplement in the Vatican newspaper. Journalist-historian Lucetta Scaraffia is campaigning for women’s rights in the male-dominated Vatican and pushing for women to teach in seminaries to Read more
Pope expresses full confidence in Cardinal Bertone
Friday, July 6th, 2012
Pope Benedict has expressed full confidence in his Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in a personal letter clearly intended to end speculation that the cardinal might be replaced. The letter, released on July 4, was dated July 2, just before the Pope left on his summer vacation at Castel Gandolfo. In it, the Pope Read more
Good for the goose, good for the gander
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012
Ultra-traditionalists aren’t the only ones in need of papal ‘solicitude’. On June 26, the Vatican announced the appointment of Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia to a specially created post as “a sign of the Holy Father’s pastoral solicitude for traditionalist Catholics in communion with the Holy See and his strong desire for the reconciliation of those Read more
Exhausted in the Vatican: the final battles of Pope Benedict XVI
Friday, June 29th, 2012
The mood at the Vatican is apocalyptic. Pope Benedict XVI seems tired, and both unable and unwilling to seize the reins amid fierce infighting and scandal. While Vatican insiders jockey for power and speculate on his successor, Joseph Ratzinger has withdrawn to focus on his still-ambiguous legacy. Finally, there is clarity. The Holy See has Read more
Pope: converts to evangelical churches find Catholic parishes lacking
Tuesday, June 26th, 2012
Pope Benedict has given his opinion that Catholics who become converts to evangelical churches often do so because they experience a lack of fervour, joy and community within Catholic parishes — not because of doctrinal reasons. “Often sincere people who leave our Church do not do so as a result of what non-Catholic groups believe, Read more
Airports an opportunity for mission say Pope
Friday, June 15th, 2012
The Holy Father told participants of the World Seminar for Civil Aviation Chaplains focussing on new forms of evangelisation, to embody the world’s airports in the Church’s mission, to make airports as places where people encounter God. Airports “are places that increasingly reflect the globalised reality of our time. Here one finds people of a Read more