Worldcrunch
A special meeting of Cardinals has reportedly been scheduled, though the Vatican denies that it is linked to any announcement of the 88-year-old pontiff stepping down. Still, others ask why the Pope hasn’t at least appeared from his hospital window. In both cases, the example of his two predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI hang over the question of resignation.
Pope Francis appears incapable of grasping that for Ukraine to “raise the white flag” would be to concede defeat, and accept the victory of evil over good. Is he a poor theologian or a poor global strategist, or both?
With the arrest of former Polish Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the Pope is showing that he will crack down on child sex abuse in his Church by ending any protection of criminals.
While Pope Benedict XVI sought to consolidate Catholic doctrine in a secular world, Pope Francis is devoting more of his papacy to bringing peace to the world’s conflict zones.
They are neither anti-religious rebels nor feminist iconoclasts, but three nuns and a Catholic theologian. Here’s how they think Pope Francis should face the female question.
Worldcrunch ROME– What do get when you mix a rugby match and a marathon with the patron saint of Ireland and an Argentine Pope? Endless eternal city traffic jams, for sure. Holy chaos? Well, we’ll see. Here is the once-in-a-lifetime agenda for Rome this Sunday. MARATHON milky.way There are an estimated 100,000 people — including […]
ROME – Benedict XVI couldn’t have imagined this, because his thoughts were elsewhere: but the news of his resignation was met with cheers by thousands of people in Rome. Why? Because the resignation of a pope has the same effect as the Olympic Games or a Jubilee for the city of Rome: it brings tourists, […]
ROME – The Pope’s resignation is a unique event, although not entirely without historical precedent. Benedict XVI is retiring not in failure but as freely and serenely as Charles V — who wasn’t a pope but an emperor, and one of the West’s major rulers when he put down his crown on October 25, 1555. […]
VATICAN CITY – One of the cardinals getting ready to enter the upcoming conclave knows that he himself is not papabile — that is, his is not one of the names being considered as a possible next pope. Perhaps for this reason he has taken the time to lay out to La Stampa, in a […]
ASSOCIATED PRESS Worldcrunch VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI became the first Roman pontiff in six centuries to step down, boarding a helicopter outside St. Peter’s on Thursday that took him to the Vatican retreat of Castel Gandolfo south of Rome where he will stay hidden from view for the forseeable future. Earlier, the Pope […]
BBC, THE GUARDIAN (UK), THE IRISH TIMES (Ireland) Worldcrunch EDINBURGH – Cardinal Kevin O’Brien has announced he will be stepping down as Archbishop of Edinburgh and St. Andrew’s following allegations of “inappropriate behavior” during the 1980s, reports the BBC. The announcement comes three days before Pope Benedict XVI is slated to step down, and Cardinals […]
VATICAN CITY – A long queue of men dressed in black is winding silently around St. Peter’s Square: They are Roman priests here to say their last goodbyes to Benedict XVI at a recent Vatican audience. When he decided to resign, did it cross the Pope’s mind that the cross he’d bear would also affect […]
ADNKRONOS, LA STAMPA (Italy), THE TELEGRAPH (UK) Worldcrunch ROME– With a surprising twist of flexibility, a key Italian bishop and doctrinal expert has given his green light to integrating yoga and meditation into Roman Catholic spiritual practices. Monsignor Raffaello Martinelli, the bishop of the city of Frascati, near Rome, said that he is “open” to […]
Turns out Benedict XVI had been reflecting on resignation since falling last March. After finally telling the world, the Pope returned to his private quarters where he was overcome by emotion.
With his historic resignation, Benedict offers a more modern vision of the Catholic Church. Otherwise, says a commentator from his native Germany, he was a man stuck in the last millennium.
ROME – It was a disquieting statement from the former butler of Pope Benedict XVI, as he took the stand in a Vatican court hearing his case. Paolo Gabriele, who lived for six years in the papal apartment, explained the motives that had led him to photocopy the Pope’s private papers: “Over time, I developed […]
VATICAN CITY – Three years ago, on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI’s departure for the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, it was the murder of Luigi Padovese, the vicar apostolic of Turkey, which loomed over the trip. This time it is the killing of four U.S. diplomats in Benghazi and the uprising across the region […]