Pope Benedict XVI

As Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger celebrated his 85th birthday, his last as Pope, with a Mass in the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican. It was April 16th 2012. Reflecting on his long and eventful life, he claimed he was "facing the final stretch" of his life's journey. "I do not know what awaits me”, he said.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who will turn 91 on April 16, visited the United States 10 years ago, April 15-20, 2008. I remember the occasion fondly. I was in my second year of teaching Spanish at my alma mater (Class of 2000), Bishop McNamara High School (“McNamara”), in Forestville, Maryland.

These are the most recent photos of Benedict XVI. As shown, the pope emeritus, who is turning 91, continues to welcome visitors, though at a much slower rate than during his papacy. He plans to spend his birthday in private, in the Vatican Gardens, with his brother Georg, who is 94. Just like last year, ...

The pope also sent a warm 'Happy Easter' to his predecessor Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, emphasizing the continuity of their pontificates, and, indirectly, responding to impressions of a rift following a recent Vatican scandal featuring efforts to suppress part of the content of a letter from Benedict about a ...

The fiasco surrounding Benedict XVI's letter declining an invitation to write the introduction for a series of volumes on Pope Francis's theology was more than a PR snafu. It reveals deeper issues in the ongoing transition from the pontificate of Benedict XVI to the pontificate of Francis. In his now-famous letter ...

Pope Francis Tuesday afternoon met Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at his Mater Ecclesiae Monastery residence in the Vatican and offered him best wishes for Easter, the Holy See's Press Office said in a communique. Earlier Tuesday morning, the Pope visited the Vatican Secretariat of State where some 300 ...

ROME - Pope Francis met Tuesday with Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI in the first known contact between the two, following a major gaffe by Francis's communications chief over his misrepresentation of a letter from the retired pontiff. The Vatican press office said Francis called on Benedict to bring him Easter ...

Benedict XVI also visits the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. September 12-20, 2006 - Gives a speech in Bavaria, Germany that includes quotes from 14th-century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, regarding Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. The speech sparks protests by Muslims around ...

Pope Francis Tuesday afternoon met Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at his Mater Ecclesiae Monastery residence in the Vatican and offered him best wishes for Easter, the Holy See's Press Office said in a communique. Earlier Tuesday morning, the Pope visited the Vatican Secretariat of State where some 300 ...

Pope Francis met Tuesday with Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI in the first known contact between the two, following a major gaffe by Francis's communications chief over his misrepresentation of a letter from the retired pontiff. The Vatican press office said Francis called on Benedict to bring him Easter ...

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis met Tuesday with Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI in the first known contact between the two, following a major gaffe by Francis' communications chief over his misrepresentation of a letter from the retired pontiff. The Vatican press office said Francis called on Benedict to ...

Vatican City, Mar 22, 2018 / 12:00 am (CNA).- The story of Benedict XVI's letter and the communication issues it raised, dubbed “Lettergate,” has led to the resignation of a curial prefect, among other things. But it also had the effect of revealing the agenda behind some discussion, namely, pieces of a strategic plan for ...

It was Benedict XVI who overruled those fears and paved the way for the upcoming canonization. This was affirmed by the postulator of Romero's cause, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who spoke last week with Vatican Insider about the case. Paglia, who is also president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, ...

On the Feast of St. Joseph, Pope Francis ordained three new bishops. It took place in St. Peter's Basilica at 5 p.m.. Alfred Xuereb, a 60-year-old from Malta, was secretary for both Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Following his ordination, the pope will send him as nuncio to South Korea. Waldemar Stanisław ...

Five days after releasing a portion of a letter from Benedict XVI regarding a collection of books about the theology of Pope Francis, the Vatican Secretariat for Communication released the complete text of the letter. In a portion of the letter never read at the presentation of the books nor shown in a blurred ...

The Vatican has finally released the full text of the letter of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI following a five-day long public controversy in which the Secretariat for Communications was accused of censorship and manipulation of the text because it had originally published only parts of the letter together with a ...

VATICAN. In this photo of a letter released by Vatican Media, retired Pope Benedict XVI praises a volume of books about the theological training of Pope Francis. The Vatican admitted Thursday, March 14, 2018 that it blurred the final two lines of the letter's first page, where Benedict begins to acknowledge ...

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican admitted Wednesday that it altered a photo sent to the media of a letter from retired Pope Benedict XVI about Pope Francis. The manipulation changed the meaning of the image in a way that violated photojournalist industry standards. The Vatican's communications office ...

VATICAN CITY — 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. In a letter sent to Msgr. Dario Vigano, prefect of the Vatican ...

Pope Francis greets Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during a visit with new cardinals at the retired pope's residence, Nov. 19, 2016 (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano, handout). In a letter released today, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has strongly defended Pope Francis against those who claim he lacks ...

In the winter of 2013, Pope Benedict XVI stunned the world when he announced he would be stepping down from the papacy after just eight years. Benedict, a well-regarded Catholic scholar and theologian, cited his advanced age, making him the first pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415.

in In a new interview, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has said he was prompted to resign because there were many commitments he was “no longer able to accomplish” as Pope, and that he was unable to take any more long-haul flights. Speaking to theologian Elio Guerriero in an interview published in the ...

February 28, 2013, was a blur. I'm pretty sure I was in the newsroom at Vatican Radio for some of the day, but I can't recall whether I was there, or at home, or in a bar watching the chopper take off and carry the soon-to-be Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to his retirement at Castel Gandolfo. I can talk a little ...

ROME - Speaking to artists at the Vatican in late November 2009, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized how beauty should not be something illusory or deceitful, but rather something that “gives us wings,” and sometimes even “disturbs us” and leads to suffering. Quoting the Greek philosopher Plato, he said that ...

The Vatican denied that retired Pope Benedict XVI has a degenerative neurological disease or paralyzing condition after his brother, 94-year-old Mgr Georg Ratzinger, told a magazine that Pope Benedict had a debilitating disease. In an interview published February 13 in the German weekly entertainment ...

The pope gathered all cardinals present in Rome, before reading them the renunciation text, which was written in Latin and signed with the date of the day before. In it, Benedict made it clear that he had acted completely freely, after having meditated on the issue, and established the day beginning the ...

“Before Pope Francis went out before the whole world, appearing on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, he wanted to call Pope Benedict to greet him,” said Monsignor Alfred Xuereb to Vatican Radio's Alessandro Gisotti. Xuereb was Pope Benedict XVI's second private secretary for five and a half years, ...

"Sensation" was not strong enough to convey the import of Pope Benedict XVI 's announcement on Rose Monday five years ago that he would resign. It was a deep shock — a break with the past. German media assured their audiences that the 85-year-old pope's retirement was not a Carnival joke.

Benedict XVI spent almost eight years as pope, and the past five years as something no man has been since the 15th century — pope emeritus. Now, the pontiff who stunned the Vatican by retiring from the position in February 2013 says he is headed toward his next step: “I am on a pilgrimage toward Home ...

Five years after his resignation, “Benedict XVI, in honor of the truth,” a documentary by Rome Reports and TV 2000, presents the key reasons for his decision. BENEDICT XVI February 11, 2013 “I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter.” WHEN DID HE MAKE THE ...

April 18 marks the 10th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI's address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Such addresses are distinct, in that they are relatively short, are initially heard rather than read, and have a secular global audience. As did Blessed Paul VI, St. John Paul II and Pope Francis, Pope ...

It was February 11, 2013, when Benedict XVI communicated to the world his decision to resign from the exercise of the papal ministry. This historic event has left many open questions. Five years later, on the occasion of the Pope Emeritus' 91st birthday, a documentary has been presented in the Vatican, ...