Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was born 94 years ago, April 16, in the town of Marktl, Bavaria. More than eight years after he announced his retirement from the papacy in 2013, Benedict continues to live a retired life in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery on Vatican grounds. Despite growing feebleness, the retired pope is in good Read more
Benedict XVI’s personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein has said that the pope emeritus’ illness is “subsiding.” In an interview with the German newspaper Südkurier, Archbishop Gänswein is reported to have said that Benedict XVI’s “illness is subsiding” and that his medication has been reduced. Benedict XVI has been suffering from facial shingles, a bacterial infection Read more
Pope Francis’s advice to the Church’s 13 new cardinals is straightforward: “Proclaim the true word, not boring speeches no one understands.” Francis made the comments in his homily at the consistory Mass at St Peter’s Basilica last Saturday. All 13 of the new cardinals share Francis’s pastoral concerns at a time when conservatives within the Read more
Last week the Pope Emeritus met with a professor of moral theology who was recently dismissed from Rome’s Pontifical John Paul II Institute. His dismissal came amid ongoing controversy regarding recent changes to the Institute. Benedict XVI, who has had a long-standing relationship with the Institute that well pre-dates his papacy, invited Monsignor Livio Melina Read more
There is only one pope leading the Church, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI emphasises. “The Pope is one, it is Francis,” Benedict said in an interview with an Italian magazine last week. “The unity of the Church has always been in danger, for centuries,” he continued. “It has been for all its history. Wars, internal conflicts, Read more
Pope Benedict XVI is not dead and did not recently suffer a stroke, the Vatican confirmed on Tuesday. On Monday, rumors circulated on Twitter and other social media platforms that the Pope Emeritus had suffered a “mild ischemia” – a kind of stroke. “The rumours are false,” Alessandro Gisotti, director ad interim of the Press Read more
The Pope emeritus, Benedict XVI, has published a 6,000-word essay blaming clerical sex abuse on the “all-out sexual freedom” of the 1960s. Cultural and historical change have led to a “dissolution” of morality in Catholicism, he claims. As an example, he says despite allegations of clerical sex abuse of children dating back to decades before Read more
Pope Francis says the Vatican archives on Holocaust-era Pope Pius XII will be opened next year. Pius’s role – helping or ignoring the plight of Jews during the holocaust – has been much debated. On the one hand, he has often been criticised by Jews for his apparent silence during the holocaust. On the other, Read more
A former cardinal sacked from a senior Vatican post by Pope Francis has written his own Manifesto of Faith. The Manifesto is the work of 71-year old German Gerhard Mueller who is a leading member of the Church’s conservative wing. It repeats basic Catholic teaching that Catholics must be free from sin before receiving Communion. Read more
The relationship between Jews and Christians is the subject of a correction Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has published in theological magazine “Communio.” He was responding to a newspaper article alleging he favoured missionising the Jews and called Jewish-Christian dialogue into question. Benedict’s correction affirms Christians are called to a “dialogue” with the Jews rather than a Read more