Worldcrunch
This excerpt of an exclusive interview given by then-Cardinal Robert F. Prevost on August 7, 2024, at St. Jude Parish in New Lenox, Illinois is included in Antonio Spadaro’s book “Da Francesco a Leone” (From Francis to Leo) available in Italian on July 31.
In life and in death, Francis has been praised as a reformer, even if he basically left the Church structurally untouched. His image was shaped more by clever media strategy than genuine change.
To revisit the life and journey of Pope Francis, we are republishing a La Stampa article from shortly after his rise to the papacy.
Prophecy necessarily destabilizes, disturbs, disrupts, subverts. And precisely because he was a prophet, Pope Francis at times appeared to clearly be unsuitable for the role of Supreme Pontiff, which requires prudence, diplomacy, patience, moderation. Yet nobody can doubt his faith, or his commitment to speak before God on behalf of the world.
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.
Updated April 2, 2024 at 12:20 p.m. Pope John Paul II died on this day in 2005, at the age of 84. Why was Pope John Paul II such a surprising choice? When Polish-born Karol Wojtyla was was elected on October 16, 1978, John Paul II became the first non-Italian pontiff in 455 years. What […]
-Analysis- Buenos Aires, 2013. At the ripe age of 76, Jorge Mario Bergoglio seems destined to wind down an illustrious career in the Catholic hierarchy as the widely respected and mostly beloved Archbishop of the Argentine capital. But the Holy Spirit (and the College of Cardinals) was destined to intervene, sending the Jesuit prelate to […]
The native of Buenos Aires, who rose to be its Archbishop, prefers the subway to limousines — ‘villas miserias’ to ecclesiastical sophistication. The name he took evokes a closeness with those who suffer most.
Benedict XVI himself said Africa deserves to be considered for the papacy.
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, […]
LA STAMPA, GAZZETTA DEL SUD (Italy) Worldcrunch VATICAN CITY– The countdown to the conclave is on, and everyone seem to wants in on the action. Indeed one man dressed up as a bishop and headed to the Paul VI auditorium on Monday where the cardinals were meeting to discuss the date for the upcoming conclave, […]
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 […]
VATICAN CITY – Nevermind the “courage, humility, respect and lucidity,” and the other praise we’ve heard associated with Pope Benedict XVI’s historic decision to step down, he leaves behind a papacy stained with failure and a deep feeling of something left incomplete. On some matters, the Pope’s decision is indeed a form of renunciation. “Purification” […]
LA STAMPA (Italy), VATICAN NEWS (Vatican), BBC (UK), Worldcrunch VATICAN CITY– After a sometimes bumpy eight-year rule, and a surprise decision to become the first pope in 600 years to retire, Benedict XVI steps down from the papacy at 8 pm local time. Benedict met Thursday morning for the final time as pontiff with the […]
ANSA, LA STAMPA, VATICAN RADIO (Italy) Worldcrunch ROME– Pope Benedict XVI stunned his Church and the world at large, by announcing that he will resign from the papacy on February 28. He made the announcement himself, in Latin, during Monday morning’s consistory for the canonization of martyrs of Otranto, victims of a massacre in 1480. […]