Ageing brings intense prayer and awareness of judgement, says 89 year-old Emeritus Pope Benedict. He says retirement has given him the gift of silence to enter more deeply into prayer, especially with the Psalms and the writings of early Church theologians. He also says the approach of death makes his failings and God’s judgment a Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Pope Benedict XVI’
Retired Pope Benedict says it was his ‘duty’ to resign from papacy
Friday, September 2nd, 2016
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI felt he had a “duty” to resign from the papacy because of his declining health and the rigorous demands of papal travel. While his heart was set on completing the Year of Faith, the retired pope told Italian journalist Elio Guerriero that after his visit to Mexico and Cuba in March Read more
Francis praises Benedict in new book
Friday, June 24th, 2016
Benedict XVI’s resignation and withdrawal into a life of prayer has taught the Church a lesson of doing “theology on its knees”, Pope Francis has said. Francis wrote this in the preface of a new book by the Pope Emeritus, titled “Teaching and Learning the Love of God”. It is the first volume of several Read more
Bishop appointed against Bergoglio’s wishes resigns
Friday, November 6th, 2015
An Argentine bishop whose appointment Pope Francis opposed before he became Roman Pontiff has resigned after allegations of mismanaging funds. Bishop Oscar Sarlinga of Zarate-Campana diocese announced his resignation on Sunday. This came after an administrative takeover of his diocese, ordered by Francis in January 2014. The “fraternal mission” was led by the Pontiff’s successor Read more
Benedict XVI still believes he was right to resign
Tuesday, February 17th, 2015Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has never regretted or doubted his decision to resign two years ago, says his personal secretary. Archbishop Georg Ganswein said Benedict is certain and serene about his decision, made for the good of the Church, because of his waning strength. Archbishop Ganswein said the retired Pope’s usual routine these days involves Read more
Emeritus popes should return to college of cardinals
Tuesday, November 25th, 2014
Hubert Wolf, Professor of Church History at the University of Münster, is calling for a clearer distinction between “pope” and “pope emeritus”. According to Wolf, there are fears that “around Francis and Benedict XVI two competing power centres could come into being in the curia, with pope and antipope at the top of each.” The Read more
Bishop warns of excommunication for going to SSPX Masses
Friday, November 7th, 2014An Italian bishop has warned that Catholics who go to Mass at chapels staffed by the traditionalist Society of St Pius X incur excommunication. Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano diocese said SSPX bishops and priests are suspended from priestly ministry. When the faithful receive the sacraments from them, “they break communion with the Catholic Church”. Read more
Retired Benedict XVI says relativism is lethal to faith
Tuesday, October 28th, 2014
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has warned against relativistic ideas of religious truth as being “lethal to faith”. The retired pontiff sent a written message of 1800 words to Rome’s Pontifical Urbanian University, where a lecture hall was recently dedicated to him. “The risen Lord instructed his apostles, and through them his disciples in all ages, Read more
Pope Benedict and his guardian angels
Friday, October 3rd, 2014Former is Pope Benedict XVI pictured with the sisters who care for him at his home, Mater Ecclesiae, a restored convent within the confines of the Vatican. The lay sisters are known as ‘the four guardian angels’. These sisters previously lived with Benedict in the Papal apartments. The former convent has 12 monastic cells over two Read more
Doubt and faith
Friday, October 3rd, 2014
Once I believed that when you found faith, it rarely wavered. Then I learned that even saints had massive doubts about God. How reassuring. If even the holiest of the holy had second thoughts, why not me? Maybe we Catholics should talk more about doubt. It actually is an intrinsic part of the pilgrimage, a Read more