The first “selfie” of retired pontiff Benedict XVI is making the rounds on social networks. The photo was shared by Gianluca Barile on his Twitter account on September 11 and is the first known selfie in which the retired Pontiff has appeared. Hours later, Barile published a second selfie of Benedict XVI. “There’s two, not Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Pope Benedict XVI’
The moment when Benedict XVI prayed in a mosque
Friday, September 12th, 2014As the Holy See looks into the possibility of a papal visit to Turkey and while some are speaking of a religious war, twisting Ratzinger’s Regensburg speech to create a contrast between the two Popes, it is worth remembering those key moments of silence, which Benedict XVI spent inside Istanbul’s Blue Mosque The two minutes Read more
Pope Benedict XV and World War One
Friday, September 5th, 2014
A century ago, on 3 September 1914, a month after the outbreak of World War One, Giacomo Della Chiesa was elected Pope. He tried to stop the war but in vain. The first public speech Pope Benedict XV gave after the Conclave which elected him as Pius X’s successor on 3 September, marked the start Read more
Benedict XVI looks refreshed during Mass with students
Friday, August 29th, 2014
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI looked refreshed and stood for an hour and a half during a Mass with his former students this week. Members of the Ratzinger “schuelerkreis” or “student circle” had been meeting at Castel Gandolfo in Italy, and then travelled to the Vatican for a Mass on August 24, with Benedict as principal Read more
Francis usually visits Benedict before he travels
Friday, August 22nd, 2014Before he goes on any international trip, Pope Francis usually pays a visit to his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. This is according to prefect of the pontifical household Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, who made the remark in an interview with the Austrian Catholic press agency. Asked about the “two Popes”, Archbishop Gaenswein underscored that “there Read more
First new Catholic Church in Cuba since revolution planned
Friday, August 15th, 2014
Cuba’s communist Government is on the brink of permitting the building of the first new Catholic church in the country since the Marxist revolution of 1959. The church will be built in country’s second city, Santiago de Cuba. Catholics in the city have been attending Mass in the street since Hurricane Sandy destroyed their previous ramshackle Read more
Pope Benedict XV, WWI and the pursuit of peace
Friday, July 25th, 2014
Pope Benedict XV was archbishop of Bologna, Italy, in June 1914 when the pistol shots of a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo murdered Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, and echoed throughout the world. On Aug. 20, 1914, with World War I less than a month old, Pope Pius X died, and on Sept. Read more
Fall of the Vice-Pope
Friday, June 20th, 2014
A photograph taken in Argentina in 2007 shows two cardinals, Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Tarcisio Bertone, sitting side by side, although their chairs are on two different levels. At the time, Bertone was the Vatican’s Secretary of State, having traveled to a village in northern Patagonia “in the name of His Holiness Benedict XVI” to Read more
Bishop Morris tell-all book blocked by four Aussie bishops
Friday, June 20th, 2014
At least four Australian bishops have banned or restricted sales of a book by Emeritus Bishop William Morris, which details how he was sacked by Pope Benedict. Bishop Morris’s book “Benedict, Me and the Cardinals Three”, published by ATF Press, is banned from sale in Catholic bookshops in Toowoomba and Brisbane. It is only available Read more
Pope Francis hints at eventual retirement plans
Tuesday, June 17th, 2014
Pope Francis has hinted that if he eventually retires from the papacy, he might return to live in his native Argentina. In an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia last week, the Pope was asked if he still had a room reserved in a retirement home in Buenos Aires. Pope Francis said “yes”, explaining that Read more