(RNS) When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, the surprising choice left conservative Catholics almost giddy with the prospect of total victory. Now with Benedict set to resign, the Catholic right is counting up the ways that Benedict failed them.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) As of 8 p.m. Thursday, the Vatican will go into “sede vacante” mode — a Latin expression that means that the seat of St. Peter is vacant. Here’s what will happen and who rules the church during the “interregnum” between two popes.
Video courtesy Global Journalist
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday that he intends to live “hidden from the world” in retirement even as his closest aide will assist his successor.
EREAC, France (RNS) Elie Geffray straddles both sides of a bitter French divide over gay marriage. As a retired Catholic priest, he will bow to a church that adamantly opposes same-sex unions. But as a small village mayor, he’s also willing to marry gay couples in civil ceremonies.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Still reeling from Monday’s announcement that Pope Benedict XVI will become the first pope in 600 years to resign, the Vatican is attempting to return to normal, with many questions about the future but few answers.
(RNS) After an uproar and an investigation by the state’s bishops, a Catholic hospital in Colorado has reversed course and said its attorneys were “morally wrong” to defend the hospital against a lawsuit by arguing that twin fetuses who died there should not be considered legal persons.
(RNS) The quake that hit Los Angeles last week was an ecclesiastical one: Archbishop Jose Gomez publicly rebuked his predecessor, Cardinal Roger Mahony, and stripped him of his official duties. But on reflection, it’s not clear that Mahony was punished at all.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) A high-ranking Vatican official on Monday (Feb. 4) voiced support for giving unmarried couples some kind of unspecified legal protection even as he reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
(RNS) Retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has been stripped of his official duties in an unusual public rebuke by his successor that followed the release of thousands of pages of internal church documents showing how Mahony and aides for years conspired to cover up the sexual abuse of children by clergy.
