The President, Taoiseach and Tánaiste have led Irish tributes to the late Pope Benedict XVI, who died this morning. President Michael D. Higgins said in his message that Benedict will be remembered for “his untiring efforts to find a common path in promoting peace and goodwill throughout the world”, including for maintaining a “steadfast interest”…

Just a few hours after retired Pope Benedict XVI died in his Vatican residence December 31, Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, provided a few early details of what to expect in the coming days. The 95-year-old pope’s remains will be in St Peter’s Basilica beginning the morning of January 2 for people…

Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI called for “urgent action” to address the crisis of abuse by clergy in the Church in Ireland, the Primate of All-Ireland has said. His comments come following the news that the former pope died this morning. Archbishop Eamon Martin said he was “saddened”, remembering his “gentle soul in prayer, asking God, in…

Carol Glatz/CNS Here are some important events in the life of Pope Benedict XVI. April 16, 1927: Joseph Ratzinger is born in Marktl am Inn, Germany. 1945: With World War II ending, the 18-year-old conscripted soldier deserts from the German army and is held briefly as a US prisoner of war. June 29, 1951: He…

The late Pope Benedict XVI’s disgust over the abuse scandals marring the Church was made evident even before his election as pope. In his forceful Way of the Cross meditations, drafted in the weeks before his election as pope in 2005, he wrote for the world to hear: “How much filth there is in the…

Retired Pope Benedict XVI, who had an impressive record as a teacher and defender of the basics of Catholic faith, is likely to go down in history books as the first pope in almost 600 years to resign. He died December 31 at the age of 95, nearly 10 years after leaving the papacy to…

Cindy Wooden/CNS During his many years at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as well as during his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI made incisive contributions to the search for Christian unity, although some of his teaching also was read as ecumenically insensitive. While the late pope forged strong bonds of friendship and esteem…

There was a time – it encompassed most of the 1980s – that Catholic publishers weren’t very interested in what the largely unknown Fr Joseph Ratzinger of Germany had to say about Christian morality, the mystery of the heart of Christ, the role of religion in post-Marxist Europe or, for that matter, any other topic.…

Former Pope Benedict XVI has died aged 95 in his residence at the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, it was announced this morning. He led the Church for eight years until he stood down in 2013 due to ill health, almost 10 years ago, becoming the first pope since Gregory XIII in 1415 to step down.…