retired Pope Benedict XVI

On the eve of the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ election, retired Pope Benedict XVI defended the continuity of the church’s teaching under his successor and dismissed those who criticize the pope’s theological foundations.

The Vatican denied that retired Pope Benedict XVI has a degenerative neurological disease or paralyzing condition after his brother, 94-year-old Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, told a magazine that Pope Benedict had a debilitating disease.

Almost exactly five years after announcing his intention to be the first pope in nearly 600 years to resign, Pope Benedict wrote “I am on a pilgrimage toward Home,” capitalizing the Italian word “casa” or “home.”

Although with different personalities and different tones, the papacies of both Pope Francis and retired Pope Benedict XVI focus on proclaiming the Gospel in a world that seems to confuse truth and lies, goodness and evil, said Cardinal Gerhard Muller.

Defending religious freedom, fighting indifference to attacks on human dignity and promoting care of creation are obligations that Orthodox and Catholics share and areas where Pope Francis said he and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople are in deep harmony.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Sixteen years after the Vatican released the text of the so-called Third Secret of Fatima, rumors cyclically arise claiming that the Vatican […]

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Although he lives a relatively hidden life in a villa in the Vatican Gardens, retired Pope Benedict XVI continues to study modern […]