Free Republic

The Prisoner of the Vatican In one of his last speeches before abdicating in 2013, Pope Benedict XVI decried the liberalism that had seeped into the Church after Vatican II. To this liberalism, he traced “so many problems, so much misery, in reality: seminaries closed, convents closed, the liturgy was trivialized.” But he then proceeded to hand the Church to the very liberals responsible for these problems and to a successor set upon liberalizing the Church even more.Not long after assuming power, Jorge Bergoglio took a veiled swipe at his predecessor. He told an interviewer that Vatican II had encouraged...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican insider: ‘Furious’ Francis demanded Benedict retract name from priestly celibacy book Vaticanist Antonio Socci said that Pope Francis ordered Benedict's secretary to remove the name of Benedict XVI from the cover of the book. ROME, January 15, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A Vatican-based journalist has alleged that Pope Francis was “furious” over Pope Benedict’s contribution to a book co-authored with Cardinal Robert Sarah defending priestly celibacy, demanding that Benedict retract his name from the work.  Antonio Socci, an Italian Catholic journalist best known for his coverage of Church news, has reported on social media that Pope Francis...

[Catholic Caucus] Socci: The Backstory: here is what went on behind the scenes. The rage of the despot against the Catholic Pope Reliable sources inside the Vatican have pieced together what happened. The book “From the Depths of Our Hearts” is clearly by Benedict XVI and Cardinal Sarah (as is indeed the letters between the two of them -  made public by Cardinal Sarah -  demonstrate unequivocally). Everything had been decided and agreed upon from the very start. The other day – when the part defending celibacy was published -  pandemonium broke out in the Vatican because Bergoglio was fuming...

The football World Cup taking place in Brazil this year indirectly prompted Benedict XVI to bring forward his resignation as pope by a year, his private secretary has said.

When Pope Benedict XVI touches down for his first papal visit in the United States next week, you may notice that he doesn't have the same onstage flair as his predecessor, John Paul II. But you may also begin to notice a very handsome man of the cloth never far from the pontiff's side. That would be Monsignor Georg Gänswein, the Pope's personal secretary, responsible for everything from deciding who gets to see Benedict, to keeping His Holiness on schedule, to discreetly handing him his papal reading glasses just before a homily or other public discourse. While he is the...

Ladies, here's one more man you won't be getting. The Rev. Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, the Pope's private secretary, has become the first papal pinup. Gorgeous Georg, as Gaenswein is often called, has movie-star looks - he has been compared to George Clooney and Hugh Grant - and a charismatic character that's been gaining him many female fans. The 50-year-old has been called "divinely handsome" by Maria Luisa Agnese, editor of the Italian magazine Corriere. And the former Italian first lady once congratulated the Pope on live television for choosing the Black Forest Adonis. He has been photographed in tennis shorts...