VATICAN CITY -- Although it took obvious effort to pronounce each word and sometimes his secretary repeated what he said to make it clear, retired Pope Benedict XVI spoke to an Italian newspaper about his retirement and about Pope Francis' planned trip to Iraq.

VATICAN CITY -- Both Pope Francis and retired Pope Benedict XVI have received the first dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 after the Vatican started vaccinating its employees and residents Jan. 13.

The acceptance of serious allegations swallowed up without proof is an age-old problem. It is also dangerous.

BERLIN -- Retired Pope Benedict XVI has declined the inheritance of his brother Georg, who died in July, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA.

This autumn brings a trifecta of anniversaries for those of us devoted to St. John Henry Newman.

VATICAN CITY -- An author with a long and close relationship to retired Pope Benedict XVI told a German newspaper that the 93-year-old retired pope is "extremely frail."

REGENSBURG, Germany -- Retired Pope Benedict XVI followed the funeral of his brother, Georg Ratzinger, via live streaming, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA.

VATICAN CITY -- Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, a musician and retired Pope Benedict XVI's elder brother, died July 1 at the age of 96.

VATICAN CITY -- Retired Pope Benedict XVI returned to the Vatican June 22, five days after flying to Germany to spend time with his ailing, 96-year-old brother.

VATICAN CITY -- The continuity between St. John Paul II and Pope Francis is rooted in the message of God's divine mercy for all men and women, retired Pope Benedict XVI said in a letter commemorating his predecessor's birth.

MUNICH -- In a newly published biography, Retired Pope Benedict XVI said the Catholic Church is threatened by a "worldwide dictatorship of seemingly humanist ideologies." He cited same-sex marriage, abortion and the "creation of humans in the laboratory" as examples.

VATICAN CITY -- More than four months after Pope Francis named a new president for the Vatican's financial watchdog agency, the leadership roster of the agency was completed with the naming of a new director and vice director.

We Catholics are at times indifferent about those things that should deeply concern us but obsessed by those things that should be water off our backs. 

When Pope Celestine V resigned as pope in 1294, he removed his papal garb and intended to return to life as a hermit. However, his successor, Pope Boniface VIII, placed him under house arrest where he remained until his death 10 months later. 

The Hollywood production The Two Popes has been earning Oscar nominations and praise as a must-see movie. But the film, which imagines conversations in 2012 between an aging Pope Benedict XVI and the soon-to-be Pope Francis, is a two-hour escape into fiction, totally unlike the drama now unfolding which stars the past and current pope.