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<p>Benedict: 'Married men could only receive the sacrament of Holy Orders if they had committed themselves to sexual abstinence.’</p> <p>ROME, January 12, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarah have co-authored a new book on priestly celibacy, taking a firm stand against the priestly ordination of married men in the Latin Church.</p>

Pope Benedict XVI, previously known as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, should be heeded: he knows what of he speaks. In the first general audience of his pontificate he stressed Europe's "inalienable" Christian roots. The wisdom of his choice of the his papal name Benedict (the name of Pope Benedict XV, "a courageous and authentic prophet of peace" who led the Catholic Church during the dark years of World War I, and Saint Benedict, founder of the Benedictine order and one of the patron saints of Europe) is being confirmed by the current rioting in Europe by an Islamic extremist criminal element...

"...in the third part, I would like to develop some perspectives for a proper response on the part of the Church." III. (1) What must be done? Perhaps we should create another Church for things to work out? Well, that experiment has already been undertaken and has already failed. Only obedience and love for our Lord Jesus Christ can point the way. So let us first try to understand anew and from within [ourselves] what the Lord wants, and has wanted with us. (cont'd) First, I would suggest the following: If we really wanted to summarize very briefly the content...

In his self-created role as the “contemplative member” of an “expanded papacy”, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger — aka “Pope Emeritus” Benedict XVI — has a lot of time on his hands these days, and he uses some of it to write on theological matters. Back in 1972, Fr. Ratzinger was very busy with a lot of things, such as arguing for the permissibility of public adulterers to receive Holy Communion in “individual cases”. At the time he also co-founded the theological journal Communio, together with such unsavory characters as Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar, Fr. Karl Lehmann, and others. Last year,...

Note: Fr. Imbelli tells us he was reading along in some works by Pope Benedict XVI and was moved to extract several passages that seemed to speak powerfully to the multiple scandals in which we find ourselves. We agree, and thought you would like to see them as well. – Robert Royal During his last trip to Germany, at Freiburg im Breisgau, on September 24thand 25th2011, Benedict XVI gave two addresses to German bishops, clergy, and lay leaders. Reports at the time indicated they were not well received by the audience. From the vantage of the present crisis, however,...

Pope Francis Does the Holy Liturgy Pope Francis is to ordain 16 deacons to the priesthood on April 22 The Words of Consecration and the Pope (Rome) The Holy See yesterday published the texts and chants for the Pope's Mass on the 4th Sunday after Easter, which Pope Francis will celebrate on April 22 in St. Peter's Basilica. On this occasion, the head of the Church will consecrate several candidates to the priesthood.   The priestly ordinations Pope Francis will ordain sixteen deacons preparing for the priesthood as priests, sincethe 55th World Day of Prayer is celebrated  at the same...

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (CNS) Benedict's past statements mean his letter was inevitably of interestThis week’s furore over Benedict XVI’s letter could seem a little overblown. First the Pope Emeritus was reported to have written a note paying a compliment to Pope Francis. Then it emerged that the official Vatican photo had blurred and concealed another part of the letter – in which Benedict declined to write a short passage on a new collection of booklets about Francis’s theology. (The refusal was mentioned at the press conference, but not on the Vatican website or in the original reports.) It...

PRAY FOR POPE BENEDICT XVI We may never know why he resigned.  I personally believe that the San Gallo Conspirators who did everything they could to prevent him from being elected in the Conclave of 2005, and failed, succeeded in 2013 in threatening the Church with such a financial disaster that Benedict, out of love for the Church and on those countless men and women around the world who depend on the Church for their very sustenance and living, sacrificed himself and resigned the exercise of the power of jurisdiction (governing) that belongs to whoever occupies the Chair of Peter, but not the power...

Cardinal Burke Criticises Benedict XVI’s Resignation “It was not a good thing for the Church to lose its universal shepherd”, Cardinal Raymond Burke has commented on the resignation of Benedict XVI, “There is a certain feeling among many Catholics that their father abandoned them.” Talking to the Macau newspaper O Clarim (December 15) Burke expressed his hopes that papal resignations will not become a common practice. The cardinal concedes that at the time of his resignation Pope Benedict had reached a certain age, “but certainly he was in full possession of his faculties.” He is not convinced by the argument...

“You defended the clear traditions of the faith, but in the spirit of Pope Francis you also sought to understand how they can be lived today.”This is the praise that “pope emeritus” Benedict XVI bestows on Cardinal Gerhard L. Müller in the opening of the volume published in Germany on the occasion of the cardinal’s 70th birthday and the 40th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.Last July 1 Pope Francis brusquely dismissed Müller from the position of prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, after repeatedly demonstrating that he did not appreciate his vigilance over the...

Sources inside the Vatican suggest that Pope Francis aims to end Pope Benedict XVI’s universal permission for priests to say the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. While the course of action would be in tune with Pope Francis’ repeatedly expressed disdain for the TLM especially among young people, there has been no open discussion of it to date. Sources in Rome told LifeSite last week that liberal prelates inside the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith were overheard discussing a plan ascribed to the Pope to do away with Pope Benedict’s famous...

Did billionaire speculator George Soros, President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, and Obama/Clinton adviser John Podesta conspire to overthrow the conservative Pope Benedict XVI and replace him with a radical, Pope Francis? Did they use America’s intelligence agencies, and our nation’s diplomatic machinery, political muscle, and financial power to coerce and blackmail “regime change” in the Roman Catholic Church?Far from being some wild conspiracy theory, there is sound prima facie evidence to indicate that this is a serious effort to expose a political scandal of the highest order, involving flagrant, criminal abuse of power...

CANON212 UPDATE: DOES IT MATTER WHETHER A POPE SPEAKS LIKE A CATHOLIC, OR HAVE WE ALL JUST BECOME FRA FESTINGS?

Pope Francis is going to “wait and see” before judging President Trump, according to reports. That’s comforting, I guess. Readers might recall a previous post of mine in which a story was highlighted about how the Vatican reacted to Trump’s victory: a ‘lot of incomprehension’ and ‘bitter shock,’ viewing the United States as ‘angry and radicalized.’ Could there have been an alliance of sorts between the Holy See and Democrats? From The Remnant Catholic newspaper: Specifically, we have reason to believe that a Vatican ‘regime change’ was engineered by the Obama administration. We were alarmed to discover that, during...

The news is startling indeed, and was supported by different news agencies like Riposte Catholique and Boulevard Voltaire: Benedict XVI. adopted a position this October 12th in the Osservatore Romano on the battle escalating within the Church for the orientation of the Sacred Liturgy. He did not hesitate in himself making the line of Cardinal Robert Sarah entirely his own. Thus, the former head of the Church openly distanced himself from the line of his successor Pope Francis. Benedict XVI. has made this downright sensational step on soil familiar to him, theology. He spoke in favor of changing the celebration...

Pope Benedict XVI at the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter's Square on Sept. 11, 2005. Credit: © L'Osservatore Romano. Since he resigned from the papacy over three years ago, Benedict XVI rarely gives interviews. In a recent exception, however, the former pontiff took the time to chat not only about his successor, but the saints who've accompanied him throughout his life.  In the interview, published Aug. 24 in Italian newspaper La Reppublica, Benedict said he has been serene and happy since his resignation, and that while there were “smaller and larger difficulties” in his pontificate, there were also “many graces” that...

Rome, Italy, Jun 25, 2016 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- What is Benedict XVI's own view of his historical resignation? What has the fall-out been from his secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein's controversial remark on an “expanded petrine office”? What about the “Prophesy of Malachy,” which allegedly sees Francis as the last pontiff? In a recent and candid conversation, veteran journalist and EWTN Rome correspondent Paul Badde sat down with Archbishop Gänswein, who gave his take on these and a number of other questions. The German archbishop currently serves Pope Francis as Prefect of the Papal Household, and has also maintained...

VATICAN CITY, July 1 (Reuters) - Former Pope Benedict says in his memoirs that no-one pressured him to resign but alleges that a "gay lobby" in the Vatican had tried to influence decisions, a leading Italian newspaper reported on Friday. The book, called "The Last Conversations," is the first time in history that a former pope judges his own pontificate after it is over. It is due to be published on Sept. 9. Citing health reasons, Benedict in 2103 became the first pope in six centuries to resign. He promised to remain "hidden to the world" and has been living...

The Pope Emeritus reportedly admitted to the diary in a book-length interview to be published in SeptemberBenedict XVI kept a diary throughout his papacy but plans to destroy it, according to an Italian newspaper. The retired pope apparently admitted to the diary in a new book-length interview to be published in September. The historic book, called The Last Conversations, follows the format of previous book-length interviews Light of the World and Salt of the Earth and shares the same German author, Peter Seewald. The Corriere della Sera newspaper, which has acquired the rights to publish excerpts of the book in...

When Pope Benedict XVI resigned in 2013, many wondered what role a retired pope might have in the Church. After the election of Pope Francis, many continued to wonder whether the presence of a retired pope would be a threat in any way to the authority of the new one. Given those concerns, the low-profile role chosen by the pope emeritus has been quite reassuring. Similarly, Francis’ acceptance of his predecessor’s draft of his own first encyclical letter, Lumen Fidei, in June 2013, was more than a gracious gesture of civility. Despite initial apprehensions, these developments can be seen as...