When Pope Benedict XVI retired in 2013 — the first pontiff to do so in 600 years — the church had no rules for what a retired pope’s role would be or even what he would be called. After Benedict’s resignation, his papal seal and fisherman’s ring were wisely broken, as would have happened if Read more
I first met Joseph Ratzinger in June 1994 when he was the cardinal prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. No, I was not being interrogated by the Grand Inquisitor. This was long before I got in trouble with the Vatican as editor-in-chief of America magazine. I was in Rome to interview Read more
The pope’s interview last month with America, the Jesuit journal, was a textbook example of why the Vatican does not want the pope doing interviews. The pope poked the Russian bear in the nose, gave a convoluted response to why women cannot be priests and even had a muddled response to a question on racism Read more
Clericalism cuts two ways, neither of which has been good for the church. Clerics, who believe they have all the answers and the power, tell the faithful what they can and cannot do. On the other side are laity, who nod off in the pews and leave the heavy lifting to priests and religious. The Read more
Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality, which will take place in October 2023, is the greatest gamble of this papacy. It may succeed in bringing greater unity to the church, or it could result in greater conflict and division. Synods under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI were stage-managed affairs, where the agenda and debate Read more
You will know that we are Christians by our love, but you will know that we are Catholics by our fights. Sadly, one of the things Catholics fight over is the Eucharist. In his June 29 apostolic letter to the Catholic people, Pope Francis decries this division while describing the Eucharist as the sacrament of Read more
Before he dies or retires, Pope Francis needs to make changes in the process of electing a new pope to avoid the possibility of a deadlocked conclave. Popes John Paul II and Benedict made innovations in the election process to deal with such an eventuality, but they only made matters worse by not anticipating the Read more
I first met Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 1994 when I was researching my book “Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church.” I was getting ready to leave Rome and he was one of the last and most important interviews for the book. Because of illness, he had to cancel our first Read more
Ever since he was elected pope, Pope Francis has been trying to reform the Vatican Curia, the bureaucracy that is supposed to help the pope in his ministry to the universal church. He has had only limited success — not surprisingly, since every pope since the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s has also Read more
As world leaders gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, I was depressed by the inability of nations to deal with the coming climate catastrophe. The fault is not entirely on the heads of world leaders. They are only responding to citizens who are more worried about today than tomorrow. People are not convinced of the need to Read more