What Pope Benedict XVI shares with his notorious namesake
Portrait of Pope Benedict IX in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Rome. RNS photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain (http://bit.ly/YVXkjo)
(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.