As the Catholic Church marks a key anniversary of a traditionalist ascendancy, its leader is still keen to grapple with doubters
Benedict won over many of the country's cynics, even if his anti-materialism message clashed with Sydney's hedonism
Pope Benedict XVI used some of the strongest language yet in his apology for the sexual abuse of children by Australia's Roman Catholic clergy
Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday offered his strongest public statement yet on sex abuse against minors by Roman Catholic priests, apologizing to victims and calling the abuse "evil."
Pope Benedict XVI urged religious leaders of all kinds to unite against those who use faith to divide communities
Pope Benedict's visit may have pulled the plug on a movement that helped define the faith here for almost a half-century
Not exactly. John Paul II may have been simpatico with the Capuchin miracle worker, but Benedict prefers his saints on the cerebral side
Pope Benedict XVI concluded his six-day visit to the United States with a final address Sunday, thanking Americans for their hospitality and calling on people worldwide to pursue "justice and peaceful coexistence."
Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday recalled growing up during the Nazi era in his native Germany and stressed the "fundamental importance of freedom" as he addressed a rally of young people in New York.
Viewpoint: No, we are not the Da Vinci Code heretics the Vatican might suspect. We look instead to the Boccaccio Code
As the Catholic Church marks a key anniversary of a traditionalist ascendancy, its leader is still keen to grapple with doubters
Benedict won over many of the country's cynics, even if his anti-materialism message clashed with Sydney's hedonism
Pope Benedict XVI used some of the strongest language yet in his apology for the sexual abuse of children by Australia's Roman Catholic clergy
Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday offered his strongest public statement yet on sex abuse against minors by Roman Catholic priests, apologizing to victims and calling the abuse "evil."
Pope Benedict XVI urged religious leaders of all kinds to unite against those who use faith to divide communities
Pope Benedict's visit may have pulled the plug on a movement that helped define the faith here for almost a half-century
Not exactly. John Paul II may have been simpatico with the Capuchin miracle worker, but Benedict prefers his saints on the cerebral side
Pope Benedict XVI concluded his six-day visit to the United States with a final address Sunday, thanking Americans for their hospitality and calling on people worldwide to pursue "justice and peaceful coexistence."
Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday recalled growing up during the Nazi era in his native Germany and stressed the "fundamental importance of freedom" as he addressed a rally of young people in New York.
Viewpoint: No, we are not the Da Vinci Code heretics the Vatican might suspect. We look instead to the Boccaccio Code
The sight was jarring Friday: Pope Benedict XVI at the Park East Synagogue just before the start of the Jewish Sabbath.
Benedict opted for a low-key lecture in his speech before the world body, stressing the religious foundation of its goals
Three victims of the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church described an emotional, frank and ultimately hope-filled meeting with Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday.
Covering the White House is a thrill for a political junkie like me, but nothing prepared me for the euphoria of reporting on Pope Benedict XVI's Mass at Nationals Park for about 46,000 worshippers here on Thursday.
Worshippers began arriving at the Washington Nationals stadium before sunrise, eagerly awaiting an open-air Mass that will be presided over by Pope Benedict XVI
Addressing American bishops, Pope Benedict lays out an action plan on sex abuse, discipline and propagating the faith
Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday addressed issues ranging from the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church to the easy availability of pornography to the "alarming decrease" in Catholic marriages in the United States.
Pope Benedict XVI moved Wednesday from a jubilant White House visit where he defended religion in the public square to a contemplative prayer service at a national Roman Catholic shrine
A smiling Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the United States on Tuesday afternoon to start the six-day, two-city journey that will take him from the White House to the halls of the United Nations.
The official motto of Pope Benedict XVI's April 15-20 visit to the United States, the first of his papacy, is "Christ our Hope." Based on the frequency with which papal spokespersons have struck a different note, however, its unofficial motto might well be, "This is not a political event."
Here is the itinerary of Pope Benedict XVI while in the United States this week. All times are Eastern Daylight Time. Sources: CNN, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Pope Benedict XVI may not have the charisma of John Paul II but don't discount his staff -- especially Fr. Georg Gänswein, the gatekeeper-in-chief
Other faiths have long been banned from operating openly in Islam's birthplace. A Vatican-Saudi dialogue may change that
Fifteen hundred years after the Roman Catholic Church introduced the original list of seven deadly sins, a Vatican official last week suggested an updated roster for a new age.
The new U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See is an old Vatican hand. Now she gets to usher the Pope into his first official visit to the U.S.
Pope Benedict XVI has canceled a planned visit to a prestigious Italian university after a protest by academics and students attacked his views on Galileo, the Vatican confirmed Tuesday.
After days of rising protests from students and professors, Pope Benedict XVI has pulled out of a visit to La Sapienza University
Football should be used to teach young people moral lessons, Pope Benedict XVI said during an audience with representatives from the Italian football league and lower division clubs.
All the incense and intrigue of another papal conclave is upon us again. Well, sort of
As a showdown with the US looms, Tehran is looking to the Pontiff to intervene -- and is finding a lot of sympathy
Pope Benedict XVI will make his first visit to the United States as pontiff next year, and plans to visit the White House, ground zero and speak at the United Nations
Calling himself a "pilgrim among pilgrims" Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday visited the Marian sanctuary of Mariazell southwest of Vienna, fulfilling a promise he made in 2004 -- while still a cardinal -- to return to the shrine on its 850th birthday.
If the Pope exerts such authority, why is the Holy See impervious to predatory priest lawsuits?
Non-Catholics who are up in arms of the proclamation by Pope Benedict XVI that the only true church in the world is that of Catholicism shouldn't even bother getting upset. Just chalk it up to an old man trying to get a little attention.
The cordial half-hour discussion between two men of faith could not disguise important disagreements -- chief among them, the war in Iraq
Communist Vietnam's prime minister became his country's highest-ranking official to meet a pope on Thursday, an encounter the Vatican called an "important step" towards normalizing diplomatic ties.
Snipers and police security teams took up positions around Ankara airport as Pope Benedict XVI arrived for his first visit to a Muslim country.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused of snubbing Pope Benedict on his first official trip to a Muslim country, says he has agreed to meet the pontiff when he arrives in Ankara on Tuesday.
A demonstration by about 50 people protesting Pope Benedict XVI's approaching visit to Turkey was broken up by police in Istanbul on Wednesday, CNN Turk reported.
(Time.com) -- It was not a laid-back Turkish holiday. The citizens of the proud, predominantly Muslim nation had no love of Popes. To the East, the Iranian government was galvanizing anti-Western feeling.
Police say they have arrested a man who allegedly fired a pistol into the air outside the Italian consulate in Istanbul, then shouted slogans in protest of Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming visit.
Pope Benedict XVI is expected to cast aside centuries of Catholic belief this week by abolishing formally the concept of limbo. Today The Briefing Room takes a look at a move that theologians suggest could save the souls of millions.
Pope Benedict XVI expressed "total and profound respect for all Muslims" at a meeting Monday with ambassadors from Muslim nations and other Islamic leaders.
Pope Benedict XVI has invited ambassadors from Muslim nations to meet him on Monday in a bid to calm anger over his use of a medieval text saying their religion was spread by violence.
Pope Benedict XVI has said he is "deeply sorry" for the reaction to his comments on Islam and said a quote he used from a medieval text about holy wars did not reflect his personal thoughts.
A personal apology by Pope Benedict XVI failed to quell Muslim fury Monday as protests continued despite pleas for calm from world leaders and Islamic officials.
Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday he regretted that his speech on Islam offended Muslims and expressed his respect for their faith. Here is the Vatican's statement, according to a translation posted on its Web site:
Outrage is mounting around the world over Pope Benedict's comments on Islam and jihad despite assurances from the Vatican that he only intended to point out the incompatibility between faith and war.
A 15th body was found early Thursday in the rubble of a skating rink in southern Germany whose roof collapsed under the weight of snow.
Before an enthusiastic crowd numbering in the hundreds of thousands, Pope Benedict XVI has celebrated an open-air mass to end World Youth Day.
A liberal Catholic friend of mine tried humor to mask his disappointment at the choice of Pope Benedict XVI, the rigid Bavarian-born Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, to succeed the late John Paul II: "We were looking for a 'good shepherd,' and instead we got a German shepherd."
Pope Benedict XVI has revealed he prayed to God during the conclave not to be elected pope but that "evidently this time He didn't listen to me."
More than 350,000 religious faithful -- including up to 100,000 Germans -- and hundreds of state and religious leaders from around the world gathered in the square outside the Vatican to show their support for the new 78-year-old German pontiff, Benedict XVI.
Pope Benedict XVI gave this homily as he was installed at an open-air Mass outside St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City:
Pope Benedict XVI was formally installed at a Mass Sunday outside St. Peter's Basilica in front of an audience of hundreds of thousands and millions of others watching on television.
Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, will officially take the helm of the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday before a crowd filled with dignitaries, members of his flock and a worldwide television audience of millions.
As Pope Benedict XVI starts his papacy, details and analyses are emerging about how the actions of his predecessor and the new pontiff helped position him as the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
As he prepares for his inauguration Mass on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his gratitude to his "venerated cardinal brothers" for electing him to head the Roman Catholic Church and asked for their support during his reign.
There is one Roman Catholic Church, headquartered in the Vatican. Then there are thousands of churches -- located in rural and metropolitan, traditional and progressive, affluent and impoverished communities worldwide.
In Istanbul and Ankara, on newsstands and on the Internet, headlines scream displeasure over Joseph Ratzinger's ascendance to the papacy.
Is nothing sacred?
A lapsed American Catholic who registered the Web domain BenedictXVI.com before the new pope was named says he has no idea what to do with the site but believes it would be wrong to sell it to a pornography or gambling site.
CNN.com asked users to share their thoughts about the issues the next pope will face. Many also offered their thoughts on the selection of Pope Benedict XVI. Here is a sampling from thousands of responses, some of which have been edited.
When he was a cardinal in 1991, Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, suffered a brain hemorrhage "which laid him down for a while, but he recovered from it," said CNN Vatican analyst John Allen on Wednesday.
Newspapers around Europe have hailed the swift election of Joseph Ratzinger as pope -- a step they said dismayed Roman Catholic progressives, but pleased defenders of church orthodoxy.
Nearly three-quarters of American Catholics say they are more likely to follow their own conscience on "difficult moral questions," rather than the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll.
Pope Benedict XVI outlined goals for his papacy Wednesday, including the unification of all Christians, continuing the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and reaching out to people of other faiths.
Reaction to Tuesday's election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to pope ranged from joy to disappointment. But a German cardinal who has worked with -- and disagreed with -- the new Pope Benedict XVI urges patience.
Pope Benedict XVI prepared to celebrate his first Mass as pontiff Wednesday at the Vatican, while world leaders welcomed his selection.
Before Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger assumed the title of Pope Benedict XVI, he earned the nickname "Cardinal No" for policing the boundaries of Roman Catholic teachings.
Tuesday's announcement of a new pope could usher in a new era in the Roman Catholic Church -- and a business opportunity for online vendors already racing to sell fridge magnets, prayer cards and clocks bearing the likeness of Pope Benedict XVI.
World leaders lauded conservative German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's election Tuesday as head of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of them referred to the 78-year-old pontiff by his chosen papal name Pope Benedict XVI.
Roman Catholics reacted quickly to Tuesday's announcement that conservative Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany had been chosen the 265th pontiff of the church -- Benedict XVI.
The newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, was one of the most powerful men in the Vatican under Pope John Paul II, a strict enforcer of church doctrine who earned the nickname "Cardinal No."
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was selected Tuesday as the new pope.
Wearing traditional papal robes and a large smile, Joseph Ratzinger of Germany appeared Tuesday on a Vatican balcony as the 265th pontiff, Benedict XVI, as tens of thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square to cheer him.
Milan's Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi may be the magnet for moderate votes if critics of conservative Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger can unite in balloting for a new pope next week, Vatican watchers say.
Mourning pilgrims have packed into churches in Rome to remember Pope John Paul II in services presided over by cardinals, who praised the late pontiff for touching hearts around the world.
Roman Catholic cardinals preparing to elect a new pope have unanimously decided not to talk with the media, a Vatican spokesman told reporters Saturday.
Following is the text of Pope John Paul II's address to U.S. President George W. Bush at the Vatican Friday, courtesy of the Vatican's Web site:
FOR CENTURIES the Vatican has projected an aura of immense, even ostentatious, wealth befitting one of the great global institutions. From the echoing vastness of St. Peter's Basilica to art treasu...
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
Video
Photos
