John L. Allen, Jr.
•Reflections on covering one pope's funeral and another's election
•Not a transitional pope: Benedict may surprise
•The mill continues to grind, but rumors prove false
•Hero of church's conservative wing
becomes Pope Benedict XVI
•The Vatican's enforcer: A profile of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
•The
voting process has begun
•Getting
to know you; Cardinals with little connection to Rome have
missed out on informal gatherings
•Outline
of a Ratzinger papacy
•Papal
negative campaigning and the role of the Holy Spirit
•Handicapping
the conclave; Push for Ratzinger is real
•Two
conclave preachers are open, ecumenical;
Both stress simplicity, humility
•Three
cardinals emphasize collegiality;
Ratzinger said to favor free speech before
conclave
•Law’s
activities, positions illustrate “clash of cultures” between
U.S. and Rome
•Cardinals
agree to go mum
•An
American pope is not likely
•'How
do you live Christ in today's secular culture?'
•Secretary
to three popes has vivid memories
•John
Paul II set high standards for successor
•Analysis
of John Paul II's reign
Joan Chittister, OSB
•Adolescence or adulthood: which?
And
he shall be called . . .
•I
missed the smoke; I got the idea
•Never mind the papabile,
consider the papacy
•The
underside of the issue
•Antigone or Ismene: The new choice
•Win a couple, lose a couple
•When
demonstrations are not demonstrations
•The
purpose of the interregnum
•Be
aware of Greeks bearing gifts
•He
was the grandfather of their soul
•Poignant
and paradoxical
Mary Ann Hinsdale, IHM
•New
pope should put collegiality at top of list
Rita Larivee, SSA (Photo Essay)
•What
did they come to see? Photo Essay
Stacy Meichtry
•Benedict calls for more dialogue with other churches, religions
•Benedict calls 'listening' his 'program of governance'
•Benedict addresses the media
•Appointments
send a signal of continuity
•U.S.
cardinals tout a kinder, gentler Benedict XVI
•Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger elected Pope Benedict XVI
•A
whistle stop, cardinal style
•Ratzinger
in forceful call for conservative path
•John
Paul II gets mixed reviews from religious congregations
•Germany's
Kasper: No need for 'clone' of John Paul II
•Catholic-Muslim
relations focus of sermon; Lebanese cardinal wants
dialogue, collaboration
•Vatican II is latest topic;
Curia officials weigh in on late pope's
commitment to council reforms
•Little
specific about cardinals' talks; Some said to petition
for John Paul's sainthood
•Vatican:
‘It’s forgiveness.’ Victims: ‘It’s more pain.’
•Law
appearance draws protesters from U.S.
•Focus
is on John Paul, not succession, during mourning period
•Cardinals
don't want Africans in high positions
•Millions
say last farewells to John Paul II
•Collegiality,
better communication cited as concerns entering the conclave
•A
blueprint for the future papacy
•Endless
crowds wait hours to view body of John Paul II
•World
religious and political leaders weigh in on legacy of John
Paul II
•Mourners
flood St. Peter’s Square; ‘Italy weeps for a father’
Tom Roberts
•There
are no women
•Conclaves
were once raucous and long
•The
next bold initiative: to listen
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Habemus papam: We have a pope
National Catholic Reporter has a team, led by Rome Correspondent
John L. Allen Jr., covering the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. Bookmark this page and check the NCR Web site for daily updates of news and analysis.
Day Twenty-five, April 26, 2005
The Word From Rome: Reflections on covering one pope's funeral and another's election
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
I wanted to share some quick, initial impressions of the momentous days we all have just experienced. These thoughts, coming hot on the heels of the events themselves, are scattered and perhaps not especially profound, but perhaps worth recording.
Read
the full story
Day Twenty-four, April 25, 2005
Benedict calls for increased dialogue with other churches, religions
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
Pope Benedict XVI drew a mixed reaction from Muslim and ecumenical leaders Monday after delivering an address that renewed his call for increased dialogue and "bridge building" between faiths.
Read
the full story
Day Twenty-three, April 24, 2005
Benedict calls 'listening' his 'program of governance'
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
In a ceremony colored by centuries-old pageantry, Pope Benedict XVI officially took the reins of the Roman Catholic church Sunday, receiving the symbols of his authority with a call for unity with other faiths and a pledge to govern the church through cooperation rather than papal mandate.
Read
the full story
Day Twenty-two, April 23, 2005
Benedict addresses the media
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
Media reports have called him ruthless. Cardinals have called him shy. Pope Benedict XVI went before an auditorium packed with reporters Saturday to speak for himself.
Read
the full story
Day Twenty-one, April 22, 2005
Adolescence or adulthood: which?
By Joan Chittister, OSB, Rome
Rome is quiet this week. Not silent, just quiet. There is no sense of great joy -- I was in Rome once when the country won the World Soccer Championship and, trust me, this is not the same -- but there is no panic either. Thoughtful, I think you'd call it. Even the press has settled down a bit. The sense of the frantic, the urgent, the breathless has dropped a decibel or so.
Read
the full story
Not a transitional pope: Benedict may surprise
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
The election of Joseph Ratzinger April 19 was a vote for continuity with the papacy of John Paul II, but also a choice for a man who will translate the guiding lines of the Wojtyla pontificate into institutional reality.
Read
the full story
The mill continues to grind, but rumors prove false
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
Reports that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office until recently headed by Pope Benedict XVI, is preparing to issue four new documents, including one approving Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, are "absolutely false," according to senior Vatican sources.
Read
the full story
Day Twenty, April 21, 2005
Appointments
send a signal of continuity
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
In a clear sign of
continuity with John Paul lI, pope Benedict XVI appointed three of
the Roman Curia’s top officials Thursday to the posts they had held
under his predecessor. Benedict re-assigned Cardinal Angelo Sodano,
77, to the post of Secretary of State, the Holy See’s prime
minister, after 14 years of service under John Paul. The nomination
came despite the fact that Sodano is two years past 75, the standard
age of retirement for curial cardinals.
Read
the full story
Day Nineteen, April 20, 2005
And he shall
be called . . .
By Joan Chittister, OSB
We’ve
been living in an ecclesiastical tsunami this week. The election of
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the position of Pope Benedict XVI has
had all the force of a universal avalanche. The questions never
end. Journalists are
rushing from source to source trying to determine the future of a
church led by a theologian considered by many to be both doctrinaire
and dogmatic. The apparent answers to their questions leave many in
more darkness than light, in search of some kind of spiritual
security that their church still includes them, too.
Read
the full story
U.S.
cardinals tout a kinder, gentler Benedict XVI
By Stacy Meichtry
Pope Benedict XVI struck a conciliatory
tone in his first Mass Thursday, promising to reach out to other
faiths and Christian denominations as his cardinals urged the public
not to judge the new pope based on “caricatures” of the former
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
In a message
delivered to cardinals in the Sistine Chapel, Benedict pledged to do
“everything in (my) power to promote the fundamental cause of
ecumenism.”
Read
the full story
Day Eighteen, April 19, 2005
Hero of church's conservative wing
becomes Pope Benedict XVI
By John L. Allen Jr.
In electing the
265th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, the College of Cardinals made a
daring choice for a man who, despite his 78 years of ago, seems destined to
lead a strong, consequential pontificate: Joseph Ratzinger, the intellectual
architect of John Paul II’s papacy as the prefect for the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith. Ratzinger is that rare individual among
Vatican officials, a celebrity among men who normally move in the shadows.
He had a run-away bestseller in 1986 with The Ratzinger Report, a
book-length interview with Italian journalist Vittorio Messori. He is
probably the lone official of the Roman Curia that most Catholics could
actually identify, and a man about whom many of them hold strong opinions.
Read
the full story
The Vatican's enforcer: A profile of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
By John L. Allen Jr.
Cardinal Joseph Alois Ratzinger was born in rural Bavaria on April 16, 1927. Perhaps it is fate that the day was Holy Saturday and his parents were Joseph and Mary -- eerie foreshadowing for a child who would grow up to become a stark sign of contradiction in the world's largest Christian church. Read
the full story
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger elected Pope
Benedict XVI
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was
elected pope of the Roman Catholic Church Tuesday after one of the
briefest conclaves in modern history, suggesting the church will
begin the third millenium with a strong embrace of strict
doctrine. The best known cardinal in the world for his decades of
service to John Paul II as his top theological advisor and for his
pre-conclave prominence as dean of the College of Cardinals,
Ratzinger took the name of Benedict XVI. Benedict XV was the pope
that presided over the church during World War I and is best known
for his 1914 ecyclical Ad Beatissimi
Apostolorum, which called a halt to infighting in the church. Read
the full story
I missed the
smoke; I got the idea
By Joan Chittister, OSB, Rome
At
about 8:00 Monday night, black smoke curled out of the chimney
erected on the top of the Sistine Chapel. I didn’t see it. No one
was surprised by anything about it except that it came so late in
the day. After all, a Roman supper starts at least by 8:00 p.m. For
the cardinals to still be meeting beyond that time, in other words,
signaled a clear sign of commitment. These cardinals were clearly
not idling into this process. This was serious voting. They were
getting on with the process of finding a new direction for the
church that was outside the normal rhythm of things. And well they
might. Read
the full story
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Background & Analysis
 Analysis
of John Paul II's reign
At times both daring and defensive, inspiring and insular, John Paul II, 263rd successor of St. Peter, leaves behind the great irony of a world more united because of his life and legacy, and a church more divided.
This is perhaps the best first draft of history one can offer about a man who towered over the times in a way few other leaders of his era did.
Read the full analysis.
Steps to electing a pope
Following the pope's death, the procedures for electing a successor are set by the 1996 document Universi Dominici Gregis. There must be no fewer than 15 days, and no more than 20, from the death of the pope until the beginning of the conclave, which is the gathering of cardinals behind closed doors to elect his successor. This period is called the interregnum, or the period between reigns.
Read:
A timeline for the transition Updated April 4, 1:01 p.m.
How a pope is elected
When it comes to electing a pope, there are no Iowa caucuses, no candidate debates, no conventions or platforms. The "campaign" is more analogous to the 2003 California gubernatorial recall than a presidential primary -- a quick sprint that flares up unexpectedly and is over before it even seems to begin.
Read:
The art of subtle 'electioneering'
Who will be the next pope?
Will the next pope be one of these 20 men? Perhaps. But all are certainly under consideration, and that by itself makes them worth a look.
Read:
The top candidates.
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Other Voices
Expert opinions on what the world wants and needs from the next pope
New pope
should put collegiality at top of list
By Mary Ann Hinsdale, IHM,
Boston
I don’t necessarily subscribe to the folklore surrounding
papal conclaves that says a thin pope is followed by a fat pope, and the
like, but I actually am hoping for a “weaker” pope. John Paul II was a
strong pope. He will be remembered for having a strong moral compass and a
firm, even mystical, sense of his own, divinely ordained mission to lead the
church. However, the last twenty-seven years have seen a growing
centralization within the Roman Catholic church that has practically
reversed the great gains made at the Second Vatican Council. Read
the full story
'No time for glorifying and exalting': Two perspectives
By Arthur Jones
"This church will survive as a whole only if it has the vision and the strength to become a discipleship of equals," says theologian Maria Pilar Aquino in an interview with NCR's Arthur Jones. Meanwhile, ethicist Christine Gudorf tells Jones that today's issues are "tough, and the church doesn't recognize it."
Read:
Two perspectives Added April 14, 1:58 p.m.
Theologians see, experience
downside to John Paul II’s papacy
By Arthur Jones
A pontificate has ended. The tributes and adulation flow in. And yet, for some observers, U.S. Catholic theologians among them, the pontificate of Pope John Paul II is assessed in heartfelt, if saddened, criticism.
Read:
Theologians and the pope
Watch this space for postings from experts on ecclesiology, theology, culture and ecumenism about the challenges ahead for the next pope.
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