Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Pope Francis: Criticism is annoying, but can be helpful
Public criticism by cardinals and bishops is annoying -- "like a rash that bothers you a bit," Pope Francis said -- but differences need to be aired and criticism can be helpful, he told the Associated Press.
Italian publisher releases book of essays by Pope Benedict
While the Second Vatican Council gave the Catholic Church a "beautiful" document on the priesthood, "it did not face the fundamental question" of the difference between Catholic and Protestant understandings of ordained ministry, wrote Pope Benedict XVI in an essay published after his death.
Soon after Pope Benedict XVI was laid to rest in the crypt of St. PeteröÏÓãÊÓƵapp Basilica, an Italian publisher released early copies of a book by the late popeöÏÓãÊÓƵapp secretary.
Australian Cardinal George Pell, who died in Rome Jan. 10, never made a secret of his staunch adherence to established Catholic moral teaching and his concern about fellow cardinals and bishops he saw as willing to abandon that teaching.
Vatican prosecutor opens investigation into Orlandi disappearance
The disappearance 40 years ago of Emanuela Orlandi has haunted her family, fueled conspiracy theories and provided grist for a recent Netflix series.
New Syriac Catholic archbishop of Homs survived ISIS kidnapping
The new Syriac Catholic archbishop of Homs, Syria, had spent almost five months as a prisoner of Islamic State rebels in 2015.
Telling parents and godparents to teach their little ones to pray from the time they are small, Pope Francis baptized 13 babies in the Sistine Chapel as their older brothers and sisters looked on -- or got away and ran around.
Pope Benedict XVI was a renowned theologian, a "recognized authority," who left "a rich legacy of studies and research on the fundamental truths of the faith," said the official summary of his life and papacy.
The person closest to Pope Benedict XVI for the past two and a half years said the most important thing about him was that "the faith he learned, taught and proclaimed was the faith he lived."
The consecrated women who cared for Pope Benedict XVI in his retirement gently stroked his hands before his body was carried on a red-covered stretcher to a van for its last journey to St. Peter's Basilica.