As Benedict XVI’s pontificate comes to an end, we should pause to reflect on what this punctuation means for the Church. What era are we living in? Our answer to this question is important because it frames our approach to the opportunities, challenges and indeed crises we face as a Church. Can we still describe ours as the Post-Vatican II era 47 years since its close? 35 years, nearly three quarters of that time, the Church has been under the formative pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Surely the state of the contemporary Church is as much a result of their vision, plans, and actions as the Council.

It was a solemn leave-taking in Benedict’s last meeting as pontiff with the College of Cardinals, subdued, almost anticlimactic after the emotional encounter in Piazza San Pietro Wednesday. That it was unprecedented, really, can be seen in his solemn promise of “unconditional reverence and obedience” to his successor. Our experience of papal loyalty has rather been to their apostolic predecessors.

Had he made the wrong choice of schools His courses were demanding quot We have tremendous long and hard lessons to get through in both French and Algebra quot The discipline was dogged quot They give a man one of these black marks for almost nothing If he gets two hundred a year they dismis

Are more cordial relations possible in the near term between New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and President Obama? The administration and the U.S. bishops have been at loggerheads over a Department of Health and Human Services mandate for cost-free contraception in new health insurance plans and have seemed to have had more than a few brittle moments during the 2012 election. After H.H.S. recently took another crack at revising exemptions and accommodations for religious employers in its mandated coverage, Cardinal Dolan, while not signing on to the latest revision, seemed to tone down the confrontational rhetoric a notch or two, offering to continue to work with the Obama administration to find a resolution that was amenable to the consciences of all parties. That more conciliatory stance was encouraged publicly by two bishops.

On February 19 Irish Prime Minister made an official government apology for state involvement in the Magdalene Laundries, a network of workhouses that were run by Catholic religious orders between 1922 and 1966. More than 10,000 women and girls were forced into unpaid labor at the laundries. Following the government’s apology hundreds more women have come forward, each potentially due thousands in compensation.

The pope has resigned or retired. That statement really takes a while to settle in. Writing in the New York Times, Fr. Jim Martin noted that "Rare is the person who will voluntarily relinquish immense power." In the last few weeks, we have become experts in church history, learning about Gregory VII, Celestine V and other popes who have resigned. Yet perhaps we should also be looking at the humble Saint of Assisi and founder of the Franciscan Order. After all, it isn’t only popes who resign. St. Francis resigned too! When St. Francis resigned as leader of the Franciscan Order, he offered a lesson in holiness, humility and power. I think these are things that Pope Benedict is teaching us as well and will, in the end, be his most lasting legacy.

The crowds were larger, the audience wider as Benedict XVI spoke at his final general audience Wednesday, Feb. 27. His candor was striking: “There have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the church it has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep.” And amid the thanks, to his collaborators, the people of the church, a wider public, there was a sense of hopefulness, that he was not in it alone: “I said before that many people who love the Lord also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the world, and that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because he no longer belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are truly his own.”

nbsp Today Pope Benedict XVI delivered what Catholic News Service described as an quot emotional quot farewell address at his final general audience in Rome nbsp Here is the complete text from Vatican Radio Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood Distinguished Authorities De

Dutiful readers of In All Things will know that I am in the midst of a Lenten series of meditations on the Second Chapter of the Yoga Sutras, the “Yoga of Practice.” I am just up to the part where I will begin to discuss the “restraints” (yama: non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy, and non-grasping) and “observances” (niyama: purity, contentment, austerity, one’s own study, and dedication to the Lord). Celibacy will be discussed briefly in this context. Reading the Yoga Sutras on such matters is interesting, since it shows us how asceticism and celibacy have been thought of outside the West and in a different religion, many centuries ago.

Visit this page for America's latest news and commentary on Pope Benedict XVI's resignation and the papal transition. (Last updated: March 14, 2013.)

In case you have not heard, Pope Benedict XVI resigned. Nowadays, to choose a successor they gather all of the Cardinals under 80 from around the world and fly them to Rome to choose a new Pope. But how did Peter become the first Bishop of Rome, the man we call "Pope"? Practice, practice, practice? No, that’s how you get to Carnegie Hall not Rome. So, what are the lessons that the New Testament offers for those who are about to choose a successor to Peter as the Bishop of Rome? First of all, each Gospel tells us that Jesus called Simon bar Jonah early in his ministry to follow him and Peter answered that call . This is a call all the papabile have already answered, so they are in good position in that respect, though Simon bar Jonah was a Jewish fisherman when he was called, which none of the Cardinals can claim to be. Second, Jesus gave Simon a nickname, and this fact in itself is very cool, but the content of the nickname, Cephas or Petros, “the Rock,” is even better (Mk. 3:16; Matt. 16:18; Jn. 1:42). Once Simon received his nickname, he generally was called Peter, except by his mother and Paul; she doubtless kept calling him Simon and Paul kept calling him Cephas, probably to show that he still knew Aramaic. We do not know if any of the possibilities for Pope have nicknames, such as Marc “Frenchy” Ouellet or Peter “The Young” Turkson, but even if they did, their names were not given to them directly by Jesus, so this might not be a deciding factor. Upon becoming Pope they do get to choose a new name, which is itself cool, but not as excellent as having Jesus choose one for you.

“I only wish I had more to give,” an elderly Jesuit said at a community meeting a few days before he left for the infirmary. One can imagine Pope Benedict having the same sentiments during his last days in office. Joseph Ratzinger’s time as the Holy Father has come to an end; he is utterly spent. Yet he will always be heroic to me. I do not say this is in a saccharine manner, nor do I expect that everyone have the same impression. Few would have guessed that the little old man (I mean that with all respect and affection) elected eight years ago would live up to such a claim. He surely did not either, seeming to choose deliberately the name of a pope who had already faded into history but who had done what he could for peace in the last century. Upon assuming Peter’s chair, Pope Benedict XVI told us that we as God’s people would have to accept what Joseph Ratzinger knew he was all along: “a simple, humble laborer in the vineyard of the Lord.” At the announcement of his stepping down, he requested “pardon” for his “defects.”

We who do not live in Rome must rely on well-situated observers and reporters. Among the journalists, those resident in the city and accredited to the Holy See are best placed. To begin with, they speak Italian, which is the lingua franca of church life in Rome. Latin would be nice and can be crucial (Benedict’s announcement at the consistory that he would resign was made in Latin, and I remember Cardinal Bernard Law deciding to make his intervention, jargon for a speech, at a bishops synod at the Vatican in Latin, presumably to show his independence of American culture and media).

nbsp America is pleased to announced the naming of John Carr as our new Washington Correspondent Mr Carr whose first column will appear in the March 11 issue will offer regular analysis and commentary in print and online on key issues and events in the nation rsquo s capital His print column

nbsp This was a film experience unlike any other I had experienced Saturday afternoon when I approached the ticket office the SOLD OUT sign flickered up When I returned on Monday I just squeezed in for one of the last seats The film was a grim documentary Since when do documentaries pack them i

Just southeast of Rome stands the small church of St. Mary in Palmis, better known as the Church of Domine Quo Vadis. It takes its name from the legend of St. Peter’s meeting with Christ as he flees persecution in Rome. “Lord, where are you going?” Peter asks. “To Rome to be

A climate check on what the world is saying about the conclave.

nbsp On Saturday last I attended an intriguing seminar sponsored by The Vatican Observatory Foundation Its topic was astrobiology Astrobiology is a compound science which relies on astronomy biology chemistry to ask about the origin evolution distribution of life in the universe Are there h

nbsp Cambridge MA This Lenten series is dedicated to reflections on the second chapter of the Yoga Sutras a chapter dedicated to the ldquo yoga of action rdquo As I explained in the first and second entries however ldquo action rdquo here is more a spiritual and intellectual doing and und