Benedict XVI
With Benedict’s death, a way opens for more formal rules for retired popes
By Thomas Reese — January 9, 2023
(RNS) — Symbols are important in the Catholic Church, and having two men dressed in white and called pope is confusing.
Biden visits Vatican embassy to pay respects to Benedict XVI
By Zeke Miller — January 6, 2023
WASHINGTON (AP) — Benedict had 'a more conservative view within the Catholic realm than I have,' the president said, but 'I admired him. I thought he was a fine man'.
German cardinal guards Benedict’s intellectual legacy
By Nicole Winfield — January 5, 2023
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Benedict entrusted his life’s theological works to Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, who has spent nearly two decades organizing them in a 16-volume, 25,000-page opus along the lines of Thomas Aquinas’ 'Summa Theologica.'
Pope Benedict XVI: A man at odds with the modern world who leaves a legacy of intellectual brilliance and controversy
By Mathew Schmalz — January 4, 2023
(The Conversation) — Pope Benedict XVI led the Catholic Church at a crucial time and had to confront a growing sexual abuse scandal.
Highlights from the life of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
By The Associated Press — December 31, 2022
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Highlights from the life of the 95-year-old retired pope.
Vatican II after 60 years
By Thomas Reese — December 20, 2022
(RNS) — Conservatives, reading Vatican II's documents like biblical fundamentalists, miss what it meant to participants.
In Advent, we hope and wait. Climate change doesn’t lend itself to either.
By Thomas Reese — November 28, 2022
(RNS) — Advent is supposed to be a time of anticipation and hope, but the threat of global warming brings me anxiety and fear.
Synod on Synodality: Where has it been and where is it going?
By Thomas Reese — November 1, 2022
(RNS) — To win Francis’ support, liberals need to show their reforms allow the church to better proclaim the gospel.
Change is not easy in the Catholic Church, whether Vatican II or Pope Francis
By Thomas Reese — October 17, 2022
(RNS) — My heart goes out to the seminarians who are going through the current trauma of change under Pope Francis, because I went through the same trauma after Vatican II.
Pope Francis’ big gamble: The Synod on Synodality
By Thomas Reese — September 6, 2022
(RNS) — Will the synod succeed in bringing greater unity to the church, or will it result in greater conflict and division?
Reform of Vatican Curia to be considered at meeting of cardinals
By Thomas Reese — August 23, 2022
(RNS) — As the cardinals discuss curial reforms, they will also be thinking about who among them might be the next pope.
A what-if nightmare for the Catholic Church: Pope in a coma
By Thomas Reese — August 16, 2022
(RNS) — Any procedure for removing an incapacitated pope should not be quick or easy, but it should be public.
Pope Francis is not going to resign, yet
By Thomas Reese — July 19, 2022
(RNS) — Pope Francis has indicated the need for explicit guidelines for retired popes.
Pope Francis’ reforms to church governance are unlike any since Vatican II
By Thomas Reese — July 12, 2022
(RNS) — The reforms of Pope Francis are revolutionary. They move the papacy away from its old monarchical model, where the pope is king with cardinals and bishops as princes and nobles, to a collegial model based on the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.
‘Just rumors’: Cardinal Parolin dismisses chatter about pope’s plan to resign
By Claire Giangravé — June 23, 2022
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Francis’ right-hand man at the Vatican buttressed recent statements by church officials disputing that Francis is ready to throw in the miter.
