The emeritus pope Benedict XVI has suffered a decline in health, Pope Francis said today at the end of his general audience. He asked for prayers for the 95-year-old former pontiff.
Pope Benedict XVI
Posted inFaith
Vatican II was ‘necessary,’ Pope Benedict writes to Steubenville conference
Retired Pope Benedict XVI wrote that Vatican II was both meaningful and necessary for the post-war Church, in a letter to a conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville.
Posted inFaith, News
Experts suggest dropping the title ‘pope emeritus’ in proposed laws for retired popes
Canon lawyers are proposing new laws that will delineate the rules on papal retirement. Retired Pope Benedict XVI has had to trailblaze a path, as the last pope to step down was in 1294.
Posted inFaith, News
What should a retired pope do? Canon lawyers are proposing laws and guidelines
The resignation of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has sparked internal debate over the status and titles of former Popes. One group of canon lawyers and academics are working to draft a ruleset for this navigating papal resignations going forward.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Lessons from a Twitter hoax that claimed Pope Benedict had died
No, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is not dead. No, Pope Francis is not resigning. And no, the Vatican is not hiding a secret time machine.
Posted inFaith, News
Pope Francis speaks about role of pope emeritus, his possible retirement and Joe Biden taking Communion in new interview
Pope Francis said he would not live in the Vatican or return to his native Argentina if and when he ever retires, but would instead like to find a church in Rome where he could continue hearing confessions.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Vatican’s Pius XII archives shed light on WWII pope and his response to the Holocaust
A new book, citing recently opened Vatican archives, suggests that Pope Pius XII avoided conflict with Nazis and that the Vatican worked hardest to save Jews who had converted to Catholicism.
Posted inFaith, News Analysis
Cardinals should use ranked-choice voting when it’s time to elect the next pope
Before he dies or retires, Pope Francis needs to make changes in the process of electing a new pope to avoid the possibility of a deadlocked conclave.
Posted inFaith, News
New book about Pope Benedict details tension at the Vatican over having two popes
A new book describes the current state of Vatican affairs not so much through the lens of Pope Francis’ nine-year papacy, but via Benedict’s nine-year retirement.
Posted inFaith, News
‘The church has failed here, at all levels.’ Benedict XVI’s secretary addresses sexual abuse crisis
“The extent of the abuse quagmire becomes clearer with every study. It will take more than one person, even if he is pope, to drain this swamp,” Archbishop Gänswein told the German newspaper Die Zeit.