Even before his funeral Mass got underway on January 5, there were already calls to declare Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI santo subito, in a repetition of what happened at the death of John Paul II. This could be simply a déjà vu, repeating what happened almost 18 years ago. But looking at the larger historical context Read more
Dear Pope Francis, I have an idea. You know how you keep advancing the sainthood causes of all your predecessors? What if you stopped doing that? That’s my idea. It’s pretty simple: Just stop making every pope a saint. Instead of canonizing Paul VI this year, as you are reportedly planning to do, I suggest…not Read more
The Popes want us to read poetry? Oh yes—and lots of it. You can probably rattle off the big-name poets the pontiffs often mention. Dante Alighieri and his Divine Comedy have been recommended for centuries. The temperamental master often appears in Vatican documents as “the supreme poet” or, as Pope Pius XI put it, the Read more
For five generations, the Gammarelli family has dressed and shod popes, beginning with Pope Pius IX in 1846, and stretching up to Pope Francis. The family business has now passed to a sixth generation, which stands ready to keep tailoring for popes from their perch near Rome’s Pantheon. For five generations, the Gammarellis have dressed Read more
The best reason for readers to go out and purchase Douglas Rushkoff’s new book, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, is that the heroes at the end of the book turn out to be… the popes! The “new operating system” Rushkoff recommends turns out to be a variation on the fundamental vision of distributism – Read more
In my last column I argued that it would be foolish to ignore the signs that Pope Francis has been giving for almost two years concerning the admission of the divorced and civilly remarried to Holy Communion. Furthermore, after the synod his close advisers have made clear their expectation that the Holy Father will change Read more
Pope Francis has approved the canonisations of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII— in the latter case waiving the requirement for a second miracle. Papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said both canonisations could take place before the end of this year, and Vatican journalists are speculating that both pontiffs could be declared saints at Read more