The Legacy of Pope Benedict XVI

Article

The Ratzinger File

In this 1985 piece, George Lindbeck offers his thoughts on the Ratzinger Report, a compilation of interviews with Cardinal Ratzinger published in 1985.

By George A. Lindbeck

December 31, 2022

Pope Benedict XVI

Article

Between Reform & Rupture

By restoring the Tridentine rite the pope has quietly subverted one of the Vatican Il’s central initiatives

By Richard R. Gaillardetz

October 8, 2007

Liturgy

Pope Benedict XVI

Vatican II

Article

Benedict’s Theological Legacy

At the heart of Joseph Ratzinger's theology lay an insistence that we become intimate friends with Jesus.

By Christopher Ruddy

January 6, 2023

Pope Benedict XVI

Religion

Theology

Article

Jesus of Nazareth is a patchwork, not a scholarly treatise, and readers will be richly rewarded if they accept it as such

The Face of God

By Peter Steinfels

August 6, 2007

Books

Pope Benedict XVI

Article

In His Own Footsteps

Ronald Modras reflects on Benedict's path to the papacy.

By Ronald Modras

April 17, 2006

Pope Benedict XVI

Article

My Meeting with Cardinal Ratzinger

From 2005: Cathleen Kaveny recalls her only meeting with Cardinal Ratzinger—and offers advice to the new pope.

By Cathleen Kaveny

December 31, 2022

Pope Benedict XVI

Article

Ratzinger is a known quantity, a churchman whose record is both impressive and troubling.

Pope Benedict

By The Editors

April 27, 2005

Editorial

Pope Benedict XVI

Article

Regime Change

From 2013: reckoning with Benedict's legacy, in the weeks after his resignation.

By William L. Portier, Mary C. Boys, John Wilson, Richard R. Gaillardetz

December 30, 2022

Article

Benedict’s Untimely Meditation

His 2019 essay departs not only from the current pope’s analysis of the sex-abuse crisis, but also from that of almost everyone else who has studied it.

By Massimo Faggioli

December 29, 2022

Pope Benedict XVI

Sexual-abuse Crisis

Vatican II

Article

‘Why Call It Progress?’

Despite the assertions of Francis’s critics, the current pope has in fact pushed out from a path firmly forged by his predecessors.

By Austen Ivereigh

September 30, 2019

Article

As Benedict nears the end of his life, a deep contrast is evident between the messages on Vatican II he delivers to the church and the world and those of his predecessor.

Theological Drift

By Massimo Faggioli

January 23, 2020

Article

Benedict & Vatican II

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI didn’t turn his back on Vatican II: he endorsed its core ideas, emphasizing the person of Christ and our role as Christ’s body.

By Robert P. Imbelli

December 28, 2022

Pope Benedict XVI

Vatican II

Theology

Article

The Institutionalist

Did Pope Benedict mishandle sex-abuse cases as archbishop of Munich?

By Arthur McCaffrey

March 12, 2022

Pope Benedict XVI

Sexual-abuse Crisis

Article

The Reform Was Real

What does fidelity to the Gospel mean for the modern Church?

By Shaun Blanchard

December 30, 2022

Vatican II

Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Francis

Article

Pope Benedict XVI Dies

Joseph Ratzinger was a brilliant theologian whose anti-progressive views became inseparable from his persona. Few committed Catholics will be indifferent about him.

By Massimo Faggioli

January 4, 2023