Posts Tagged ‘Pope Benedict XVI’

Experts draft proposed laws on status of a retired pope

Monday, August 15th, 2022
laws on status of a retired pope

Experts are drafting proposed new laws on the status of a retired pope. In the 728 years that have passed since St Celestine established this legal precedent, the right of a pope to resign remains ensured in church law. The law is not very detailed, saying only that the decision must be made freely and Read more

On retirement Francis won’t live in Vatican nor be called emeritus Pope

Thursday, July 14th, 2022

Pope Francis said he would not live in the Vatican nor return to his native Argentina if and when he ever retires, but would instead like to find a church in Rome where he could continue hearing confessions. “I’m the bishop of Rome, in this case, the emeritus bishop of Rome,” Francis said in an Read more

Pope Francis retirement rumours swirl

Thursday, June 9th, 2022
Pope retirement rumours

Rumours Pope Francis may be considering retirement have been given added fuel over his plans to attend a feast initiated by a 13th-century pope who himself resigned. Francis announced he would visit the central Italian city of L’Aquila in August. He will attend a feast initiated by Pope Celestine V, one of the few pontiffs Read more

Pell did not approve of Benedict’s resignation

Thursday, September 30th, 2021
Vatican News

Speaking openly on his views about the three most recent popes and other matters, Australian Cardinal George Pell says he “never really approved” of Pope Benedict’s resignation from the papacy. And, of the three most recent popes, Pell said he was closest to Benedict. His remarks came during “The Church Up Close” a webinar hosted Read more

Documentary says Benedict XVI’s secretary tried to convince him not to resign

Thursday, April 15th, 2021

A documentary being released on Benedict XVI’s 94th birthday states that his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, tried to dissuade him from abdicating the papacy. “Benedict XVI, the Pope Emeritus,” directed by Andrés Garrigó, will be released April 16 by Goya Productions. The film will focus on Benedict’s papacy, and his time as prefect of Read more

Former Medjugorje spiritual advisor excommunicated

Monday, November 2nd, 2020
Medjugorje spiritual advisor

Tomislav Vlasic, a former Croatian Franciscan priest and Medjugorje spiritual advisor, has been excommunicated from the Catholic church. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) announced on 23 October they were throwing him out of the church. In 2009 Vlasic was accused of teaching false doctrine, manipulating consciences, disobeying ecclesiastical authority, and of Read more

Evangelistion: Ecology, economy, politics

Thursday, September 19th, 2019

Ecology, economy and politics have everything to do with evangelisation. They are not an alternative to it, Pope Francis says. The topics will be discussed at next month’s Synod of Bishops on the Amazon. Francis’s mainly conservative, traditional Catholic critics say these topics distract from evangelisation. “What do ecology, economy, and politics have to do Read more

‘The fragile world’: Church teaching on ecology before and by Pope Francis

Monday, September 16th, 2019

How does Pope Francis’ thinking about ecology compare with that of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI? Catholic teaching on ecology prior to Pope Francis In 1971 the document Justice in the World, issued by the Synod of Bishops, represented a major step in the development of Catholic teaching on the environment; Barbara Ward-Jackson Read more

Pope victim of half-reported answers about McCarrick abuse

Thursday, May 30th, 2019

A transcript of Pope Francis’ comments about disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick only half-reported what he said, the Vatican Communications office says. The truncated transcript of Francis’s lengthy interview with Mexico’s Televisa reporter, Valentina Alazaraki, claimed Francis said he didn’t know anything about accusations of McCarrick’s sexual abuse before the accusations became public last year. What Read more

Why doesn’t Pope Francis want people to kiss his ring?

Thursday, March 28th, 2019
ring

Why do Catholics kiss the pope’s ring? And why doesn’t he want them to? Protocols evolve and changes can be confusing, especially when most people only meet a reigning monarch (or pope) once in their lives. As we have seen in the past few days, old habits die hard, even when the pope is trying Read more