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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...

The Sunday after the Epiphany is the Sunday of the baptism of Jesus. And on each of these Sundays, year after year, Benedict XVI administered the first sacrament of Christian initiation to a certain number of children, in the Sistine Chapel. Each time, therefore, he had occasion to pronounce the formulas supplied by the rite of baptism in effect since 1969. But two of the words in this rite never entirely convinced him. And so, before renouncing the chair of Peter, he ordered that they should be changed in the original Latin, and as a result in the modern languages...

VATICAN CITY — Archbishop Georg Ganswein, retired Pope Benedict XVI’s longtime personal secretary, said a story about the pope resigning after a “mystical experience” was completely invented. “It was invented from alpha to omega,” the archbishop said Aug. 24 in an interview on Italy’s Canale 5 television news. “There is nothing true in the article.” In a report Aug. 19, the Italian service of Zenit, a Catholic news agency, said someone who had visited Pope Benedict “a few weeks ago” had asked him why he resigned. “God told me to,” the retired pope was quoted as responding before “immediately clarifying...

The pope's retirement means his famous Swiss Guards get a few days off before they have to protect the new guy. Stern-face and standing as erect as the halberds they grasp, Swiss Guards rarely betray emotion on duty. Â But their storied history has its early roots in a bloody drama.

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Note: automated translation from Italian to English: OFFICIAL NOTICE Of The PAPAL COUNCIL FOR the UNIT Of the CHRISTIANS APPROXIMATELY The ABOLITION Of the TITLE "PATRIARCH Of The WEST" OF The YEARBOOK PAPAL , 22.03.2006 OFFICIAL NOTICE Of The PAPAL COUNCIL FOR the UNIT Of the CHRISTIANS APPROXIMATELY The ABOLITION Of the TITLE "PATRIARCH Of The WEST" OF The PAPAL YEARBOOK Of The Papal Yearbook 2006 lack, in the enumeration of the titles them of the Pope, the title it "Patriarch of the West". Such absence has been commented in various ways and it demands a clarification. Without the pretension...

By Nick Fram Opinions Columnist Every commentator and pundit is going to tell you what the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger means to the future of the Roman Catholic Church. Honestly, they’re probably well-versed in the issues and problems facing the church and what the election of this hard-line conservative means to the future of the church. But what about this name? Benedict XVI? Apart from the originality being off the chart, who’s named Benedict? Wasn’t the nerdy kid with the thick glasses in your school named Benedict? The pope chooses his own name — and does he ever have...

In a private memorandum, top Vatican prelate Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told American bishops that Communion must be denied to Catholic politicians who support legal abortion. While never mentioning Sen. John Kerry by name, the memo implicitly aims at the pro-choice Catholic Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate. Ratzinger's ban is broad and includes all other pro-abortion Catholic politicians who are defying the church's ban on abortion. According the Culture of Life Foundation, which obtained a copy of the confidential document, the Cardinal began by stressing the serious nature of receiving Communion and the need for each person to make “a conscious...