Like all human institutions, the Church has often failed. But it is more than its failures—and much more than the endless quarrels over Vatican II or sexual morality.
In a new collection of essays, Colm Tóibín brings his trademark doggedness to matters of faith, from the politicking of Pope Francis to Marilynne Robinson’s fiction.
What seems like a never-ending state of crisis has paralyzed Catholicism. This is not the Church of mercy that Francis has been talking about for the past ten years.
“Benedict really cared about the job he had to do, and in resigning demonstrated that the responsible use of power sometimes requires a willingness to give it up.”
Joseph Ratzinger was a brilliant theologian whose anti-progressive views became inseparable from his persona. Few committed Catholics will be indifferent about him.
From 2019: The imaginary encounter between Ratzinger and Bergoglio is imaginative, and emotionally satisfying. But we need to remember that it never happened.
In this 1985 piece, George Lindbeck offers his thoughts on the Ratzinger Report, a compilation of interviews with Cardinal Ratzinger published in 1985.
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.
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.
Despite the pivotal role he played in Vatican II, Benedict XVI has spent the rest of his career, particularly his emeritus papacy, distancing himself from it.
By dragging Benedict into schemes like Cardinal Sarah’s book about celibacy, the anti-Francis faction reveals deep flaws in the current emeritus papacy.
Msgr. Anthony Figueiredo has released excerpts from letters with Theodore McCarrick, revealing more details about informal sanctions imposed by Pope Benedict XVI.
By framing clerical abuse as a matter of sacrilege, Benedict reinforces the disastrous playbook that has guided the church’s response to the crisis for decades.
Contrary to the narrative put forward by major news outlets, the resignation of the all-female board at ‘Women-Church-World’ was not caused by clericalism.
This 1997 article examines Cardinal Ratzinger's views on relativism, relying primarily on the 1996 address "Relativism: The Central Problem for Faith Today".
If, as Viganò claims, Benedict XVI only sanctioned McCarrick “informally,” why did he force the resignation of another bishop for far less serious concerns?
The new Vatican document on the international financial system demands that we not ignore the deep and persistent problems revealed by the financial crisis
The parallel legitimacy of the non-reformed and reformed liturgies has caused and perpetuated confusion and division in the church. How did this happen?
