The best way to usher in a truly “new” year is to stop waiting for things to get better on their own, and instead recognize what is essential and reach out now to help others, Pope Francis said.

Like any bona fide cat lover, Pope Benedict XVI’s face would light up and his hand would reach out at the sight of a fluffy feline — even when that soft bundle of fur was a squirming, feisty lion cub brought to the Vatican by visiting circus performers.

In trying to help people understand how belief in God is a natural part of life and provides grounding for the values that protect human dignity and peaceful coexistence, the late Pope Benedict XVI saw Jews and Muslims as natural allies.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -– The late Pope Benedict XVI’s disgust over the abuse scandals marring the church was made evident even before his election as pope. In his forceful Way of the Cross meditations, drafted in the weeks before his election as pope in 2005, he wrote for the world to hear: “How much filth […]

Pope Francis’ appointment book for 2023 is starting to fill up, although he usually agrees to appointments with the caveat of “God willing.”

During his many years at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as well as during his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI made incisive contributions to the search for Christian unity, although some of his teaching also was read as ecumenically insensitive.

Important events in the life of Pope Benedict XVI.

Catholic leaders around the world who had been praying for retired Pope Benedict XVI reacted with sorrow to news of his death Dec. 31 but expressed gratitude for his years of service to the Catholic Church as a theologian and pope.

By intention and providential design, Ignatius Press, established by Father Fessio in 1978, became the sole English-language publisher of the pre-papal books and the biography of the man who was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.

When Pope Benedict came to the United States for a visit to Washington and New York spanning six days in mid-April 2008, some news accounts called the pace of his schedule “grueling.”