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☆ Pell wrote secret memo calling Francis' papacy 'catastrophe', journalist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"Commentators of every school, if for different reasons ... agree that this pontificate is a disaster in many or most respects; a catastrophe," the memo begins. The Vatican's political prestige is now at a low ebb." Pell appeared to like the more liberal-minded Francis personally, but not how he ran the Church. Francis supported Pell privately during the abuse saga and on the day of the acquittal offered Mass for all who suffer unjust sentences. "The political influence of Pope Francis and the Vatican is negligible.

☆ Slovenian Jesuits ask for forgiveness in major abuse case
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ROME, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Slovenia's Jesuits say they believe sexual abuse allegations against a prominent member of their order are true and have asked for forgiveness. It is the latest development in the case of Father Marko Ivan Rupnik that has rattled the religious order and the Vatican. Some leading Jesuits have called for a full review of how the order and the Vatican have handled the case. We sincerely ask for forgiveness from all," Slovenia's Jesuits said in a website statement posted on Friday. Jesuits in Rome and Slovenia have asked any other victims to come forward.

☆ Pope praises ‘gentle’ Benedict ahead of funeral
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Francis is due to preside over the late German pope’s funeral on Thursday, an event that is drawing heads of state and royalty despite Benedict’s requests for simplicity and Vatican efforts to keep the first Vatican funeral for an emeritus pope in modern times low-key. In keeping with Benedict’s wishes, his remains will be placed in the crypt once occupied by the tomb of St. John Paul II in the grottos underneath the basilica. Benedict, who was elected pope in 2005 following John Paul’s death, became the first pope in six centuries years to resign when he announced in 2013 he no longer had the strength to lead the Catholic Church. After Francis was elected pope, Benedict spent his nearly decade-long retirement in a converted monastery in the Vatican Gardens. Thursday’s rite takes into account the unusual situation in which a reigning pope will preside over a funeral for a retired one, making important changes to a funeral ritual for popes that is highly codified.

☆ Pope Benedict Receives a Quiet Farewell From Mourners
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

VATICAN CITY—The body of Pope Benedict XVI lay before the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday, his head resting on a pair of velvet cushions, his face waxy and ashen, with rosary beads entwined through his folded hands. The twisting baroque columns of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s altar canopy towered behind. The late pope, who retired in 2013, wore a bishop’s miter but, unlike his predecessor, St. John Paul II , when he lay in state, not the woolen cloak around his neck signifying papal office.

☆ Guide to the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict on Thursday
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

VATICAN CITY, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Pope Francis will preside at a funeral Mass in St. Peter's Square on Thursday for his predecessor former Pope Benedict, who died on Saturday at the age of 95. Here is a guide to what is expected to happen:END OF LYING IN STATESince Monday, the body of the Emeritus Pope has been lying in state in St. Peter's Basilica, where more than 160,000 people had filed past to pay their respects as of midday Wednesday. The funeral Mass presided over by Pope Francis is due to start at 9:30 a.m. (0830 GMT). At the end of the Mass, Francis will recite "The Final Commendation and Farewell" asking God to "console the Church". Near the end of the Mass, Francis will sprinkle holy water on the coffin and incense it.

[1/12] Pope Francis attends the funeral of former Pope Benedict in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, January 5, 2023. REUTERS/Kai PfaffenbachSummary Pope Francis presides at funeral of his predecessorBenedict wanted simple funeral, Vatican saysEx-pope was standard-bearer for traditionalist CatholicsPope Benedict to be buried under St. Peter's BasilicaVATICAN CITY, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Pope Francis presided at the funeral of former Pope Benedict on Thursday, delivering a homily comparing his predecessor to Jesus before tens of thousands of mourners in St. Peter's square. 'LEFT HIS MARK'People from all over the world, many from Benedict's native Germany, began arriving the dark of the night to say farewell to Benedict. An account of Benedict's papacy, along with other items, including Vatican coins minted during his reign, was also tucked into the coffin. Even though Benedict largely avoided public appearances in subsequent years, he remained a standard-bearer for Catholic conservatives, who felt alienated by reforms ushered in by Francis, including cracking down on the old Latin Mass.

☆ Mourners Bid a Quiet Farewell to Pope Benedict
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Thousands more, including Hungary's Orban, bid farewell to Benedict
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pays homage to former Pope Benedict in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, January 3, 2023. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERSVATICAN CITY, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Thousands more people, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, paid homage to former Pope Benedict on Tuesday on the second day that his body lay in state in St. Peter's Basilica. Orban, the first head of government to pay their respects following Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, stood with his wife before Benedict's body for a few moments in prayer. Francis will preside at Benedict's funeral in St. Peter's Square on Thursday before a crowd that Vatican police say will be in the tens of thousands. Later, that one will be placed into a zinc coffin and then both will be placed into another coffin made of wood.

☆ Faithful pay respects to former Pope Benedict in St. Peter's
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/8] Faithful pay homage to former Pope Benedict in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, January 2, 2023. REUTERS/Guglielmo MangiapaneVATICAN CITY, Jan 2 (Reuters) - A steady stream of people filed into St. Peter's Basilica on Monday to pay their respects to former Pope Benedict XVI, whose body will lie in state in front of the main altar until his funeral later this week. Benedict died on Saturday at the age of 95 in the secluded Vatican monastery where he had lived since his shock resignation in 2013. His funeral will be held on Thursday in St Peter's Square and be presided over by Pope Francis. There were no signs of the huge crowds who came to pay their respects to Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, following his death in 2005.

☆ Pope Francis to Preside Over Predecessor’s Funeral, in a Vatican First
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

VATICAN CITY— Pope Francis will preside over the funeral of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, bringing a historically unique situation—that of two popes residing practically side by side in the Vatican—to a similarly unusual close. The event will be in a much lower key than the last papal funeral, that of St. John Paul II in 2005, when heads of state and government flocked to Rome along with millions of mourners, some of whom waited a dozen hours or more to file past the Polish pope’s body lying in state in the basilica.

☆ Death of former Pope Benedict overshadows New Year at Vatican
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] Candles stand next to St. Peter's Square after former Pope Benedict died in the Vatican, in Rome, Italy, December 31, 2022. REUTERS/Guglielmo MangiapaneVATICAN CITY, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Pope Francis marked the Roman Catholic Church's traditional World Day of Peace on Sunday but the start of the new year at the Vatican was overshadowed by the death of his predecessor, Benedict. It will be the first time in many centuries that a sitting pope will preside at the funeral of his predecessor. PRAISE, BUT ALSO CRITICISM FOR BENEDICTOn Saturday night the Vatican released Benedict's two-page "spiritual testimony" written in 2006, a year after his election as pope. Francis on Saturday called Benedict a noble, kind man who was a gift to the Church and the world.

The priest sex-abuse scandal was the albatross around the neck of Pope Emeritus Benedict’s brief eight-year reign as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, according to Vatican analysts. Like his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, Benedict also apologized to the victims and then took some steps to punish the predators. They say Benedict should have known better, because, before he became pope, he ran, for 24 year, the Vatican department that dealt directly with priest sex abuse allegations — the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). “He had an inside view of what was going on,” said David Gibson, the director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, who is the author of “The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World.” “His office dealt with these accusations. When John Paul II’s native Poland was part of the old Soviet bloc, accusations against priests were routinely dismissed as fabrications by the communist secret police to undermine the church.

☆ Pope Benedict XVI Promoted Traditional Faith, Contended With Sex-Abuse Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Liam Moloney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

VATICAN CITY—Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was a scholar and longtime senior official in the Catholic Church who sought to reinvigorate Christian faith and strengthen church orthodoxy before becoming the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years. A formidable theologian and arbiter of church doctrine for years under papal predecessor St. John Paul II , Benedict anchored his nearly eight-year pontificate in promoting a transcendent faith in Jesus Christ grounded in definitive truths and compatible with human reason.

☆ Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI dies at 95
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Corky Siemaszko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

"With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican," the statement said. Benedict was the longest-living pope, having surpassed Pope Leo XIII in September 2020. "We must think about what Pope Benedict said — 'It's the epoch of sin against God the Creator,'" Francis said at a gathering of Polish bishops. Unlike most priests, Benedict logged little time in parishes. In 2005, his first year as pope, he was accused in a lawsuit of having personally covered up a priest's abuse of three boys in Texas.

☆ Factbox: Former Pope Benedict to have simple funeral after lying in state
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VATICAN CITY, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The body of former Pope Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday, will lie in state in St. Peter's Basilica on Monday and remain there for three days before his funeral, which is set for Jan. 5. LYING IN STATEUntil early Monday morning, Benedict's body will remain in the small monastery within the Vatican where he lived. FUNERALBenedict's funeral will be held on Thursday, Jan. 5 in St. Peter's Square, in front of the basilica. The ceremony will start at 9:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) and will be presided over by Pope Francis. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that following the wishes of Benedict, the funeral would be simple, solemn and sober.

☆ Former Pope Benedict was first pontiff to resign in 600 years
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +14 min

[1/3] Pope Benedict XVI blesses a baby as he rides around St Peter's Square to hold his last general audience at the Vatican February 27, 2013. REUTERS/Max Rossi/File PhotoVATICAN CITY, Dec 31 - Former Pope Benedict, who died on Saturday aged 95, was the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, leaving behind a Catholic Church battered by sexual abuse scandals, mired in mismanagement and polarised between conservatives and progressives. Benedict, the first German pope in 1,000 years, had good relations with his successor, Pope Francis, but his continued presence inside the Vatican after he stepped down in 2013 further polarised the Church ideologically. Although he said he would remain "hidden from the world", Benedict did not live up to that promise and in retirement sometimes caused controversy and confusion through his writings. Ganswein's role as a middleman between Benedict and the cardinal was unclear, with many believing he had misled Benedict, the cardinal, or both.

☆ Pope Emeritus Benedict in stable condition and participates in Mass
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

“At present his condition is stationary.”On Wednesday, Pope Francis revealed that his 95-year-old predecessor was “very ill” and he went to see him in his home in the Vatican Gardens. Francis called for prayers for Benedict, resulting in an outpouring of messages of solidarity from rank-and-file Catholics and cardinals alike. On Friday evening, the cardinal vicar of Rome, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, celebrated a special Mass for Benedict in St. John in Lateran Basilica. Referring to Benedict’s nearly 10 years in retirement from the papacy, De Donatis said that the pope emeritus “even in old age, and in illness, continues to sustain humanity totally offering oneself.”The pope emeritus was “in profound communion with Pope Francis,” the cardinal said. At the end of Mass, De Donatis said the faithful were entrusting “our Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to the maternal care” of Jesus’ mother, “because she has promised to be near to her children in the moment of trial.”

☆ Rituals for Benedict's passing could be template for future ex popes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to attend a mass for the beatification of former pope Paul VI in St. Peter's square at the Vatican October 19, 2014. The Vatican has painstakingly elaborate rituals for what happens after a reigning pope dies but no publicly known ones for a former pope. They could be a template for other popes who choose to resign instead of ruling for life, including Pope Francis himself someday, Vatican sources say. The last pope to die, John Paul II, was buried on April 8, 2005, six days after he died. Benedict, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, presided at John Paul's funeral in 2005 in St. Peter's Square and Francis is expected to preside at Benedict's.

☆ Factbox: Former Pope Benedict, his papacy and resignation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

VATICAN CITY, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Following are some facts about former Pope Benedict, who died on Saturday:- Benedict, the first German pope in 1,000 years, was elected on April 19, 2005 to succeed the widely popular Pope John Paul II, who reigned for 27 years. Benedict said he stood down because bad health prevented him from bearing the full weight of the papacy. [1/2] Pope Benedict XVI arrives to celebrate a mass at Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba, March 28, 2012. The Vatican under Pope John Paul II had failed to take action against Maciel despite overwhelming evidence of his crimes. Some loyalists failed to accept that he had resigned the papacy willingly and continued to consider him "my pope".

☆ Factbox: Former pope Benedict, his papacy and resignation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

VATICAN CITY, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Former pope Benedict, who Pope Francis said on Wednesday was "very sick", resigned in 2013, the first pontiff in 600 years to take such a step rather than rule for life. - Benedict, the first German pope in 1,000 years, was elected on April 19, 2005 to succeed the widely popular Pope John Paul II, who reigned for 27 years. The Vatican under Pope John Paul II had failed to take action against Maciel despite overwhelming evidence of his crimes. Some loyalists failed to accept that he had resigned the papacy willingly and continued to consider him "my pope". Pope Francis, by contrast, also loves classical music but appreciates Italian pop songs from the early 1960s and also likes tango music from his native Argentina.

☆ Former pope Benedict, his papacy and retirement
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

VATICAN CITY, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Former pope Benedict, who Pope Francis said on Wednesday was "very sick", resigned in 2013, the first pontiff in 600 years to take such a step rather than rule for life. Days later, Benedict says he was "deeply sorry" about Muslim reaction to his speech, which he says was misunderstood. Former Pope Benedict traveled to his native Germany last week to visit his ailing older brother. Benedict later pardoned Gabriele and the Vatican later found him a job in a hospital. Benedict pope later acknowledges errors occurred and asks for forgiveness.

☆ Dutch leader apologizes for Netherlands’ role in the slave trade, establishes fund to grapple with slavery's legacy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized Monday on behalf of his government for the Netherlands’ role in slavery and the slave trade, in a speech welcomed by activists as historic but lacking in concrete plans for repair and reparations. Ahead of the speech, Waldo Koendjbiharie, a retiree who was born in Suriname but lived for years in the Netherlands, said an apology was not enough. And on how this history still plays a negative role in the lives of many today,” the government says. The Dutch first became involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the late 1500s and became a major trader in the mid-1600s. Eventually, the Dutch West India Company became the largest trans-Atlantic slave trader, said Karwan Fatah-Black, an expert in Dutch colonial history and an assistant professor at Leiden University.

☆ Hebe de Bonafini, the mother who defied Argentina's dictatorship, dies at 93
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Hernan Nessi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Hebe de Bonafini, the iconic co-founder of Argentina's Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and a staunch fighter against the human rights violations committed during the country's military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s, died on Sunday at the age of 93. Bonafini became one of Argentina's most famous human rights activists when she and 13 other women began searching for their children who were kidnapped by security forces during the dictatorship. Argentina's Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner lamented Bonafini's passing on Twitter and the government called for three days of national mourning. "Dearest Hebe, Mother of Plaza de Mayo, you are a world symbol of the fight for Human Rights, and a pride of Argentina," Fernandez de Kirchner wrote. "As founder of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, she shed light in the middle of the dark night of the military dictatorship."

Inside the abbey, lines of scripture were set to music that has been used at every state funeral since the early 18th century. Those who had camped out in nearby streets were watching the service on smartphones, while hush descended along the Mall, one of London's grand ceremonial boulevards, as the funeral service was relayed live through loudspeakers. 1/35 The funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey. The 40th sovereign in a line that traces its lineage back to 1066, Elizabeth came to the throne in 1952, Britain's first post-imperial monarch. "Queen Elizabeth II was without any shadow of a doubt the best known figure in the world, the most photographed person in history, the most recognisable person," historian Anthony Seldon told Reuters.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterPin-drop silence fell over London's Hyde Park nearby as thousands of people, who for hours had picnicked and chatted, went quiet the second the queen's coffin appeared on screens erected for the occasion. Inside the abbey, lines of scripture were set to music that has been used at every state funeral since the early 18th century. Among those walking behind the casket was the queen's great-grandson and future king, nine-year-old Prince George. Those who had camped out in nearby streets were watching the service on smartphones, while hush descended along the Mall, one of London's grand ceremonial boulevards, as the funeral service was relayed live through loudspeakers. 1/35 The funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey.

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