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True to form, CNN, Reuters, and other media outlets used the announcement of Pope Benedict XVI's retirement to dwell on ancient sex scandals, opposition to gay marriage, and a host of other things the media have never liked about a Pope who would not hew to whatever worldview the chattering classes embraced at the moment. "As a Catholic, I'm not buying this," tweeted hysterical chatterer, Piers Morgan, a "modern world" Catholic by his own lights. "Popes don't just quit because they're tired. What's going on here??" I am not sure I know either, but I am pleased to see the...

Pope Benedict was cheered by conservatives for trying to reaffirm traditional Catholic identity but liberals accused him of turning back the clock on reforms and hurting dialogue with Muslims, Jews and other Christians. The 85-year-old German-born pontiff announced on Monday he would step down at the end of the month because of the effects of old age meant he was unable to complete his ministry. It was a decision that stunned Church officials and Catholics around the world, but one that he had hinted at in the past.

In a nearly unprecedented move Pope Benedict XVI will step down at the end of the month. Twitter was buzzing with the news and, sadly, gutter sludge crawled out of the cracks.Vile fake retweets are coming in.RT @Pontifex f**** this, i'm done.— Max Vedel (@SoGreeen) February 11, 2013 Steady on old boy. RT @pontifex: f**** you and f**** your s***ty job!!!1!!— Ben (@ben_postgate) February 11, 2013 RT @Pontifex: f**** the lot of ya. Go to h**l. c**ls.— something in the way (@AllApologies_) February 11, 2013 But even more repugnant are the despicable death wishes and disgusting tweets from morally bankrupt cretins.AP...

<p>Pope Benedict XVI is to resign from the head of the Catholic Church on February 28, the Vatican confirmed in a statement on Monday, after he said he no longer had the strength to fulfill his duties adequately.</p> <p>A Vatican press conference started at 11.40 a.m. London time. A Vatican spokesman said the decision "took us by surprise".</p>

No pope has resigned in almost 600 years. But Pope Benedict’s surprise announcement is not entirely unprecedented. More than 260 men have reigned as Pope since Saint Peter was martyred in Rome in the third decade after the death of Christ, and at least four of them have resigned. We spoke to medieval historian Doctor Donald Prudlo, Associate Professor of History at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, about the history of papal resignations. Listen: Vatican Radio: It’s been centuries since a Pope has resigned the See of Peter. Can you tell us about the last Pope to resign? Dr....

Pope Benedict XVI 'is to resign' Breaking news The Pope is to resign at the end of this month in an entirely unexpected development, reports from the Vatican say.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was elected as the successor to Pope John Paul II on April 19th 2005.On April 24th, he celebrated the Papal Inauguration Mass in St. Peter’s Square, during which he was invested with the Pallium and the Ring of the Fisherman.On May 7th he took possession of his Cathedral Church, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.During his Papacy Pope Benedict XVIth has undertaken 24 apostolic journeys abroad. The first was to Cologne in Germany in occasion of the 20th World Youth Day in August 2005. The most...

Are we headed towards an apocalypse? First an asteroid comes close to the Earth, then the British start eating horse and now … the Pope resigns. Resigning is something that Popes very rarely do. That last time it was done voluntarily was by Celestine V in 1294; Gregory XII stepped down under political pressure in 1415. By contrast, John Paul II remained in his position regardless of his declining health – a testament to the man’s extraordinary will power.

Dear Brothers, I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also tocommunicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world,...

The 40th March for Life is being held today in Washington DC. Here’s the Facebook page. Lifesite News has a schedule of today’s events. Organizers say today’s rally in the nation’s capital may bring more anti-abortion activists to the streets than last year’s estimated 400,000. Pope Benedict XVI tweeted out his support for the march early this morning...

On the subject of religious controversy, 2013 started off with a bang, not a whimper. Hobby Lobby, the craft chain owned by a Christian couple, chose to defy the odious HHS mandate pioneered by the administration of President Barack Obama. This edict seeks to bring religious groups to heel by requiring all employers to cover contraception and abortifacients in their health-care plans. For its defiance, Hobby Lobby faces atmospheric fines of $1.3 million dollars per day. What could motivate such response from this company, traditionally associated less with political battles than knick-knacks and sewing kits? David and Barbara Green, the...

The gender theory, which is behind the homosexual revolution and the attack on the family was highlighted in Pope Benedict’s Christmas message to Vatican prelates this morning. “There is no denying the crisis that threatens,” the family “to its foundations – especially in the Western world,” he said. Crediting the Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, for the research, Pope Benedict XVI said “the attack we are currently experiencing on the true structure of the family, made up of father, mother, and child, goes much deeper” than was originally believed. “While up to now we regarded a false understanding of...

Pope Benedict XVI has urged people never to loose hope in peace this Christmas, even in situations of conflict such as Syria, or nations afflicted by terrorism such as Nigeria, because the “Truth has sprung out of the earth”, with the birth of Christ. Below the full text of Pope Benedict XVI’s Message this Christmas “Veritas de terra orta est!” – “Truth has sprung out of the earth” (Ps 85:12). Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the world, a happy Christmas to you and your families! In this Year of Faith, I express my Christmas greetings and good...

Dear Brothers and Sisters! Again and again the beauty of this Gospel touches our hearts: a beauty that is the splendor of truth. Again and again it astonishes us that God makes himself a child so that we may love him, so that we may dare to love him, and as a child trustingly lets himself be taken into our arms. It is as if God were saying: I know that my glory frightens you, and that you are trying to assert yourself in the face of my grandeur. So now I am coming to you as a child, so...

Pontiff Responds to Request by Major Newspaper to Comment on the Christmas SeasonVATICAN CITY, DEC. 20, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Following a request by the Editorial Office of the Financial Times, Pope Benedict XVI has written an article for the major newspaper. The Financial Times had requested the Holy Father's comments on the occasion of Christmas following the publication of his recent book on the infancy of Jesus Christ. In a communique by the Holy See Press Office, Pope Benedict accepted the request willingly "despite the unusual nature of the request." "It is perhaps appropriate to recall the Pope's willingness to respond...

ChurchMilitant.TV TODAY

It passed almost unnoticed, but last month Benedict XVI significantly upped the ante in an argument he’s made one of his pontificate’s centerpieces. To the horror, one suspects, of some professional interfaith dialoguers and wishful-thinkers more generally, the pope indicated the Church should recognize that some types of religion are in fact “sick and distorted.” This message isn’t likely to be well-received among those who think religious pluralism is somehow an end in itself. Their discomfort, however, doesn’t lessen the force of Benedict’s point. The context of Benedict’s remarks was the 50th anniversary of Vatican II’s opening. In an article...

Most Recent Column from Fr. Rutler September 23, 2012 Pope Benedict XVI was in Lebanon last week where the principal Catholic rite, the Maronite, traces its roots to Saint Maroun, who in the fourth century was a friend of Saint John Chrysostom. The Holy Father spoke to people who “know all too well the tragedy of conflict and . . . the cry of the widow and the orphan.” Like Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, the Pope linked violence to contempt for the right to life: “The effectiveness of our commitment to peace depends on our understanding of human life.” The...

MILAN (Reuters) - Pope Benedict got no rest on Sunday from a leaks scandal when an Italian newspaper published documents showing that his butler was not the only person in possession of confidential correspondence indicating a Vatican in disarray. Benedict, 85, ended a weekend trip to Italy's industrial and financial capital Milan with a closing mass for an international gathering in which he praised traditional Catholic family values and re-stated his opposition to gay marriage.But in its Sunday edition, the Rome newspaper La Repubblica published documents it said it had received anonymously after the arrest of the pope's butler on...

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday (May 5) called on Catholic colleges and universities in the United States to do more to affirm their “Catholic identity,” particularly by ensuring the doctrinal orthodoxy of their faculty and staff. Speaking to a group of bishops from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Wyoming, who are in Rome on a regularly scheduled visit, Benedict said there has been a “growing recognition” on the part of Catholic colleges of the need to “reaffirm their distinctive identity.” But “much remains to be done,” the pope said, singling out the church law requirement that Catholic...