Pope exposes confidential details of past conclaves and settles scores with Pope Benedict XVI’s aide
Vatican City AP Pope Francis has exposed the political “maneuvers” used to sway votes during the two most recent elections of popes, while denying he is planning to reform the process for future conclaves, in a book-length interview published Tuesday. The revelations are contained in The Successor: My Memories of Pope Benedict XVI, in which the Argentine […]
Popes are for life, resignations should not become a fashion, Francis says
Vatican City Reuters Pope Francis has said that pontiffs resigning instead of ruling for life should not become a “fashion” in the Roman Catholic Church and happen only in truly exceptional circumstances. The comments, made in private conversations with fellow Jesuits during his recent trip to Democratic Republic of Congo, were a shift away from […]
Vatican touts new memoir by Benedict XVI’s second secretary
Vatican CityAP Retired Pope Benedict XVI’s second secretary came out with a new memoir Thursday, a light, photo-filled daily journal that sharply contrasts with the bombshell tell-all book published last month by the late German pope’s main assistant. My Days With Benedict XVI by Archbishop Alfred Xuereb is the latest book to hit Italian bookshelves […]
The Explainer: Calls for Pope Benedict’s sainthood make canonising popes seem like the norm – but it’s a long and politically fraught process
In an article first published on The Conversation, JOANNE M PIERCE, of the College of the Holy Cross, looks at the process of canonisation in the Catholic Church – particularly as it relates to past popes…
Pope meets with Benedict’s aide amid revelations in new book
Rome, Italy AP Pope Francis met on Monday with Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, the longtime secretary of Pope Benedict XVI who was a key figure in his recent funeral but who has raised eyebrows with an extraordinary memoir in which he settles old scores, reveals palace intrigues and casts Francis in a deeply unfavourable light. The Vatican provided no details […]
In pictures – Mosaic of mourners bids farewell to Benedict XVI
AP One Pope laid to rest another Thursday in an extraordinary ceremony at the Vatican as the Catholic faithful bade farewell to Benedict XVI, who resigned the papacy a decade ago. Mourners crowded into St Peter’s Square starting in the early morning, when fog obscured the basilica’s dome. Clergy and lay people alike created a mosaic with […]
Updated: Pope Francis leads Benedict’s funeral as supporters seek sainthood
Updated: 6:30am, 6th January, 2023 (AEST)Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis led the funeral of former Pope Benedict on Thursday, tenderly touching the coffin of his predecessor as he stood supported on a cane before tens of thousands of mourners, some of who called for the late pontiff to be made a saint. Benedict’s death on Saturday […]
Many thousands expected for funeral of former Pope Benedict
Vatican CityReuters Former Pope Benedict, a hero to Roman Catholic conservatives who shocked the world by resigning nearly a decade ago, will be given a final farewell on Thursday at a funeral presided over by his successor. Chairs are laid outside St Peter’s Basilica in preperation for former Pope Benedict’s funeral, while the formerPope’s body lies in state at […]
German cardinal guards Benedict’s intellectual legacy
Vatican CityAP If ever there was an heir to the intellectual legacy of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, it’s Cardinal Gerhard Mueller. Benedict gave his fellow German theologian his old job – prefect of the Vatican’s doctrine office. He entrusted his life’s theological works to Mueller, who has spent nearly two decades organising them in a […]
At Benedict’s summer home, a town mourns its beloved visitor
Castel Gandolfo, Italy AP The shopkeeper named her daughter after him. The parish priest wears his old vestments. The former mayor dedicated a plaque to him on City Hall, and residents up and down this picturesque hilltop town reminisce about hearing him play the piano behind the palace walls on cool summer evenings. Pope Emeritus […]