Sydney Bishop Peter Comensoli could have claimed remarkable foresight in inviting Papal front-runner Cardinal Marc Ouellet to speak at Sydney’s forthcoming The Great Grace: Receiving Vatican II Today Conference in May (20-23), but he didn’t. Planning for the high-calibre event has been under way for at least 18 months, Bishop Comensoli told The Record last week, but the Cardinal’s presen...

‘I want to assure our Catholic community that the Church is strong and will be guided by the Holy Spirit through the days and weeks ahead, just as she has been for the last two thousand years.’, says Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB in his response to Pope Benedicts XVI’s resignation on Feb 11 in Rome.

‘Pope Benedict has reached out to our Jewish brothers and sisters in a way that has built new avenues of understanding and reconciliation,’ says Bishop Don Sproxton in his response to Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation on Feb 11 in the Vatican.

Joseph Ratzinger never wanted to be Pope and told senior Church figures that his pontificate would not be a long one. Eight years later, he is standing down. John Thavis and Francis Rocca remember his achievements and origins.

In hindsight, Pope Benedict’s resignation on Feb 11 which shocked millions world-wide seems almost predictable

Perhaps it was a signal that no-one picked up. When Pope Benedict visited residents of an aged care home in Rome last year, he spoke not so much as a leader of a world religion but as a fellow aged traveller of life …

Picking leading candidates for Pope is risky. Among the current cardinals, however, ‘observers’ (whoever these are) feel one of 12 individuals is likely to be elected …

Pope Benedict has produced two encyclicals, one on Love, one on Hope. Everyone was expecting another – on Faith …

Brazilian television networks haltes coverage of Carnivale to dedicate most of the morning broadcasts to the news coming from the Vatican and reactions from Brazilians.

Pope Benedict’s resignation will set in motion period of transition