Source: Washington Post: ROME — The Vatican vigorously defended Pope Francis on Friday by seeking to discredit accusations that he failed to oppose and may even have collaborated with Argentina’s feared military junta during the so-called “dirty war” against left-wing activists. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, departed from […]
Source: CNN According to veteran Vatican journalist Marco Politi, the initial traction in the papal vote was not for then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. “From the first leaks we understand that there was a strong candidate,” Politi told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday. “The Italian Archbishop of Milan, Scola, who entered […]
Source: CNN and BBC Epigraph: “Say, ‘O People of the Book! come to a word equal between us and you — that we worship none but Allah, and that we associate no partner with Him, and that some of us take not others for Lords beside Allah.’ But if they turn […]
By SHMULEY BOTEACH THE JERUSALEM POST Great crises often bring forth great men and it is my firm hope that the new pope will, with God’s blessing, rise to the occasion. Whoever the new pope is, he will have the chance to address the 900-pound gorilla staring down the Catholic […]
Source: CNN Details:
By DANIEL J. WAKIN VATICAN CITY – It begins with prayers chanted in an ancient language and ends with a tiny figure on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica unveiled […]
By Jason Horowitz, Published: March 8 VATICAN CITY — The College of Cardinals will convene Tuesday to begin the formal process of selecting a new pope to lead the world’s […]
Source: CNN Technically, any Roman Catholic male can be elected pope. But since 1379, every pope has been selected from the College of Cardinals, the group casting the votes at the conclave. Many of the cardinals are bishops and archbishops appointed by the pope to assist in religious issues. Some […]
Source: NY Times: The cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church announced on Friday that the conclave to elect the next pope would begin on Tuesday.The transition was set in motion on Feb. 28 by the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. More:
Source: The Local A German cardinal on Thursday said the upcoming papal conclave to pick the next head of the Catholic Church would be as pleasant as a visit to the dentist. More:
Rome (CNN) — Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to a year in prison by a Milan court on Thursday over the publication of an illegally obtained […]
Source: CNN Rome (CNN) — A group representing survivors of sexual abuse by priests on Wednesday named a “Dirty Dozen” list of cardinals it said would be the worst candidates for pope based on their handling of child sex abuse claims. Their presence on the list is based “on their […]
Source: The Local: Berlin’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese has condemned a German charlatan for masquerading as a bishop and sneaking into the Vatican to fraternize with cardinals as they prepare to choose a new pope. More:
Source: CNN Pope Benedict XVI waves in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican in December 2012. Benedict, 85, announced on Monday, February 11, that he will resign at the end of February “because of advanced age.” The last pope to resign was Gregory XII in 1415. Rome (CNN) — With […]
Source: The Economist: THE details will be wearily familiar to any observer of the abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic church in recent decades. Priests accused of horrific crimes are treated by their superiors as victims, while the children who suffered at their hands are seen as administrative headaches […]
Source: TOI The drumbeat of scandal has reached such a fever pitch that the Vatican secretariat of state issued a rare pointed rebuke on February 23, 2013. (AFP photo) VATICAN CITY: As cardinals from around the world begin arriving in Rome for a conclave to elect a successor to Pope […]
Source: Asia Times: By Francesco Sisci ROME – With a gesture that breaks with thousands of years of tradition, the Pope, usually considered a bulwark of conservatism in the world, has projected the Catholic Church into the third millennium and presented Western culture with a challenge. The West has been […]
Source: The Economist: AS THEY mull over the details of his papacy—the gaffes, the cerebral pronouncements, the deepening scandals—some Vatican-watchers will struggle to position Pope Benedict XVI in the broad sweep of Catholic history. Does he mark the end of an era? The start of something new? Or was he […]
Source: Jakarta Globe: Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday called for “real renewal” in the Catholic Church at an emotional farewell ceremony with priests from his Rome diocese and told them he would be “hidden from the world” after he resigns at the end of this month. “We must […]
Source: The Economist: BENEDICT XVI became the first Pope to abdicate the papacy since 1415 when he announced his decision to retire at the end of February, saying that he is too old to continue. In many ways he has been a reformer. @Pontifex, the Pope’s official English-language Twitter feed, […]