It was inevitable. In the lead-up to John Paul II’s beatification, a number of publications decided it was time to opine about the direction of Benedict XVI’s pontificate. The Economist, for example, portrayed a pontificate adrift, “accident-prone,” and with a “less than stellar record” compared to Benedict’s dynamic predecessor (who, incidentally, didn’t meet with the Economist‘s approval […]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I would like to begin a new series of catecheses. After the catecheses on fathers of the Church, on great theologians of the Middle Ages, on great women, I would now like to choose a subject that we all have very much at heart: It is the subject of prayer, […]
HOMILY OF POPE BENEDICT XVI BEATIFICATION OF POPE JOHN PAUL II ST PETER’S SQUARE 1 MAY 2011 Dear Brothers and Sisters, Six years ago we gathered in this Square to celebrate the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Our grief at his loss was deep, but even greater was our sense of an immense grace […]
What has been the essence of Pope Benedict XVI’s first six years, since his election on April 19, 2005, six years ago? What has been the pontificate’s chief characteristic? If one thinks of the pontificate as a whole, it is clear that the center of Benedict’s papacy is teaching. This pontificate is the pontificate of […]
CELEBRATION OF PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF OUR LORD HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI St Peter’s Square 26th World Youth Day Sunday, 17 April 2011 Dear Brothers and Sisters, Dear young people! It is a moving experience each year on Palm Sunday as we go up the mountain with Jesus, towards the Temple, […]
Pope Benedict XVI, looking very healthy for his years, turned 84 today. He was born in 1927 in Marktl-am-Inn in southern Germany. But also today, shocking revelations coming out of Belgium, where an archbishop has confessed in a television interview to sexual activity with two of his nephews, continue to reverberate. Reflections on Our Crisis […]
With great clarity and even greater charity, Pope Benedict XVI has once again shown how blessed we are to have him as the leader of our universal church! In his most recent weekly Wednesday address, the pope urges all of us to answer our call to holiness and gives us practical advice on how to do […]
I grew up in Bombingham at a time in history when the unholy trinity was “Catholics, niggers, and Jews.” Somehow, I rejected that fairly early as I rode my ice blue bike with the white banana seat in the shadow of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. I had earned that bike by going to summer school […]
An excerpt from Jesus of Nazareth PART TWO Holy Week From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection by Joseph Ratzinger Pope Benedict XVI Jesus before Pilate Jesus’ interrogation before the Sanhedrin had concluded in the way Caiaphas had expected: Jesus was found guilty of blasphemy, for which the penalty was death. But since only […]
An excerpt from Jesus of Nazareth PART TWO Holy Week From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection by Joseph RatzingerPope Benedict XVI The mystery of the betrayer he account of the washing of the feet presents us with two different human responses to this gift, exemplified by Judas and Peter. Immediately after the exhortation […]
