Pope Benedict IX

Who’s a heretic? Martin Luther, Pope Saint John Paul, Pope Benedict and Pope Francis

By Martin E. Marty — June 13, 2016
Popes have been interested in heresy and heretics for centuries, and language linking “papacy” and “heresy” continues to prosper down to our own day. The language root of “heresy” connects with “to choose,” and the heretic is someone who, in the eyes of someone else, makes bad choices. Those of us who are not of […]

What Pope Benedict XVI shares with his notorious namesake

By Daniel Burke — February 26, 2013
(RNS) The last Pope Benedict to resign, Benedict IX, was an infamous rake who sold the papacy. But like his 21st-century namesake, Benedict IX forces Catholics to mind the gap between the mortal man and the sacred papal office.
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