Month: April 2010

Such an insight is surely rooted in Benedict’s own love of the Church and in his study and command of Catholic doctrine, but also, more particularly, in his love of the early Church Fathers. For […]

In his (now famed) Christmas Address to the Roman Curia (December 22, 2005) Pope Benedict contrasted the two ways of understanding the Second Vatican Council. While some have insisted on seeing the Council as a […]

The fifth anniversary of Pope Benedict’s pontificate arrives amidst confident pronouncements of its failure: “Little to Celebrate,” “Besieged by Questions,” run the headlines. But how will Catholics and historians a century from now view it? […]

“If the papacy be dead, then the Catholic Church is dead,” wrote Msgr. Ronald Knox around the mid-point of the past century, “and if the Catholic Church be dead, Christ has failed. Close down the […]

In 1963 Columbia Pictures produced the movie The Cardinal. According to Wikipedia the Vatican’s liaison officer on the project was a young Joseph Ratzinger. In the movie there is a dialogue between a couple of […]

Cardinals literally locked in conclave to elect the next pope swear not to reveal any details of the process. But more than one of them has said in general terms that when they got together […]

The three functions traditionally attributed to a pope are to teach, to sanctify, and to rule. The first function means keeping the revelation that was handed to Peter and the apostles intact and known to […]

On March 18, 2005, having been at the Vatican to speak at a conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of Gaudium et Spes, I found myself concelebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with about 100 other […]

The Holy Father has in the highest degree the roles of Priest, Prophet, and King. Of the many things he has done and said, three stand out in my mind as having a lasting influence […]