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
Pope Francis and pope emeritus Benedict – have sent letters supporting the 2018 International Symposium “Fundamental rights and conflicts among rights” taking place in Rome this week. The symposium is being held by the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation. Both Francis and Benedict’s letters were addressed to Vatican Foundation president Fr Federico Lombardi SJ and Read more
The Chief Rabbi of Vienna, Arie Folger, has taken issue with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI over his treatment of the “substitution theory”. This theory coloured relations between Jews and Christians over many centuries, and was used to justify persecution of Jews by Christians. Read more
Leaked letters from Pope emeritus Benedict XVI have been published in Bild, a German magazine. In them, Benedict says the “anger” some of his staunchest allies express risks tarnishing his own pontificate. The New York Times says the letters were addressed to Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, one of the four ‘dubia’ cardinals, who recently criticised Benedict’s Read more
Reports that Benedict XVI confirmed some of Archbishop Carlo Viganò’s claims about a cover-up of ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s abuse of seminarians are “fake news.” Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who is the prefect of the papal household for Pope Francis, says Pope-emeritus Benedict “has not commented” on an 11-page letter from Viganò, which was released by the Read more
Pope Francis has dismissed the accusations of a former Vatican ambassador that he covered up for ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Francis says an 11-page document of claims released by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò “speaks for itself”. Asked about the letter from in a press conference aboard the Aug. 26 flight back to Rome after his visit to Ireland, Francis Read more
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has been accused of anti-Semitism because of an article he has just written about Christians and Jews. In an essay for Communion on Jewish-Catholic relations, Benedict denied the Catholic Church ever adopted “supersessionism.” Supersessionism is the theological belief that God’s covenant through Christ replaced the covenant God made with the Jewish Read more
Pope Francis has written the preface for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s second volume of collected writings. The volume is on the theme “faith and politics”. Francis says “Liberating freedom. Faith and politics in the third millennium”, acts as a compass to “understand our present and find a solid orientation for the future.” Read more
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has celebrated his 91st birthday. Joined by his 94-year-old brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, Benedict began the day by celebrating a Latin Mass. “Then he had breakfast and immediately after sang a beautiful song, which is always important for him,” Archbishop Georg Ganswein said. Pope Francis offered his early morning Mass for Read more