The Latest Breaking News from Benedict XVI

On Jan. 3, 1865, the Kingdom of Hawaii, then a sovereign state, enacted “An Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy.” Any person suspected of having the ancient disease – which is mentioned as far back as the Bible – would be inspected and, if deemed incurable, permanently exiled to…

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI turned 95 this past weekend

Pope Francis apologized on April 1, 2022, to First Nations, Inuit and Métis delegations, acknowledging the harm done by residential schools in Canada and marking a crucial step in the church admitting its role in the abuse of Indigenous communities and children. Yet this apology, as important as it is,…

Pope Francis’ two-day visit to the tiny European country of Malta, a strongly Catholic island just south of Sicily, in April, 2022 put a spotlight on Malta’s complicated history and important contemporary concerns. Chief among these is the sharp increase in the number of asylum-seekers from Africa and the Middle…

Pope Francis has welcomed a First Nations delegation to the Vatican

Indigenous delegation is demanding an apology for the church’s role in the government-funded schools

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI met with a First Nations delegation from Canada and privately expressed regret over abuse suffered by Indigenous children at church-run boarding schools

A report on decades of sexual abuse in Germany that shone an unflattering spotlight on retired Pope Benedict XVI has come on top of already strong pressure in Germany to reconsider Catholic rules on issues including homosexuality and women’s roles

Ex-pope Benedict XVI asked for forgiveness Tuesday for clerical child sex abuse committed on his watch, but aides rejected allegations of a cover-up while he was archbishop of Munich.

Former Pope Benedict on Tuesday acknowledged that errors occurred in the handling of sexual abuse cases while he was Archbishop of Munich decades ago but did not directly address allegations in a report that he mishandled four cases.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI is asking forgiveness for any “grievous faults” in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases