https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to pope benedict xvi en https://religiondispatches.org/2023/05/19/hell-cell-popes-exorcist-reflects-growing-belief-cocksure-men-will-save-us-battle-good-v Although it was a financial success, The Pope’s Exorcist , featuring a virile Russell Crowe as real-life exorcist Gabrielle Amorth, was panned by most Catholic reviewers, including the International Association of Exorcists (IAE), which Amorth founded. Critics objected to the… Fri, 19 May 2023 12:46:29 EDT Eric Harrelson, Joseph Laycock 8ef5b2b0-ac5f-42d2-b1d1-a29183549a9c https://religiondispatches.org/2023/01/05/pope-benedicts-2006-islamophobia-controversy-wasnt-isolated-incident-islamophobia Since Benedict XVI ’s death on December 31, 2022, a flurry of reflections have emerged about the former Pope as a renowned professor , influential theologian , and “ one of the most conservative pontiffs in recent memory .” Many… Thu, 05 Jan 2023 02:54:00 EST Wendy Mallette 1301021d-8753-4365-9cb6-2d771d69c932 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/10/14/george-weigels-revisionist-history-casts-vatican-ii-christian-nationalist-handbook The upcoming 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, better known as Vatican II, will produce lots of hot takes on the famous mid-twentieth century gathering of the Catholic hierarchy. Most will ask: what went wrong? Why was the Catholic… Fri, 14 Oct 2022 12:08:23 EDT Patricia Miller de7a94b2-7deb-4e07-aead-d4d8faed8ad9 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/05/24/catholic-bishops-punish-dissent-rosemary-radford-ruethers-life-and-legacy-show-way Theologians will tell you that Catholic theology almost always favors both/and scenarios, yet the U.S. Catholic bishops ’ crusade against abortion results in nothing but either/or positions. Take, for instance, the bishops’ newly favored form of public humiliation for Catholic… Tue, 24 May 2022 10:54:35 EDT Lauren Barbato beff2fd7-80f0-46df-ba8f-147fd786149c https://religiondispatches.org/2021/09/17/why-nobody-should-be-surprised-pope-francis-made-problematic-comments-about-judaism-and The tenure of Pope Francis has been marked by his support for a host of causes more closely associated with the political left, including climate change , greater regulation of capitalism , and the fate of refugees attempting to reach… Fri, 17 Sep 2021 01:07:40 EDT Ilan Benattar 7a368192-3c64-4b1e-89ee-3716fe027877 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/26/anti-vaxx-cardinal-burke-just-ventilator-becoming-living-anti-abortion-martyr Earlier this month Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke announced to the world that he had contracted Covid-19 in a strangely triumphant August 10 tweet “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently tested positive for the… Thu, 26 Aug 2021 03:49:48 EDT Karen E. Park 004350d2-e43a-41a3-b937-69379e012ef4 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/10/douthats-criticism-popes-restriction-latin-mass-fascinating-its-also-ahistorical-and-has In a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, fellow Catholic Ross Douthat criticized one of Pope Francis’ most consequential decisions: the July 16 motu proprio—or order—that reimposes restrictions on the Latin Mass preferred by many right-wing Catholics, thus… Tue, 10 Aug 2021 03:57:53 EDT Massimo Faggioli 9afc05b5-3015-42fb-8319-2a7788e9a587 https://religiondispatches.org/2020/10/30/pope-francis-praised-civil-unions-comment-justice-begins-home-vatican Theology, “the queen of the sciences” as it’s been known since the Middle Ages, is data-driven. Therefore, I waited to opine on Pope Francis’ much-discussed comments on civil unions until I’d seen the data, a good start for careful theological… Fri, 30 Oct 2020 12:58:26 EDT Mary Hunt 5366add6-cf45-4cb4-8cc4-e8e07e8fac36 https://religiondispatches.org/2020/04/13/new-book-olivier-roy-argues-aggressive-attempts-christianize-west-actually-hasten How completely de-Christianized and secularized has Western Europe become? Data from the EU tell a tale of radically declining Christian belief and participation. The numbers of those attending Sunday services have tumbled into the single digits, and roughly the same… Mon, 13 Apr 2020 03:34:53 EDT Ivan Strenski 51c09a36-adce-49af-a06e-4a986284d1dc https://religiondispatches.org/2019/06/25/vaticans-dumbed-down-version-old-argument-gender-cant-stop-changes-catholicism The past two popes insist, against mounting evidence, that the gender binary, male and female, is given in nature and blessed by God. God, a male after all, created them Male and Female. The Genesis account inconveniently leaves out the detail about the blue and pink blankets and onesies. Tue, 25 Jun 2019 10:59:30 EDT Mary Hunt 64b3358e-6934-430a-9891-f641b762a214 https://religiondispatches.org/2018/08/27/should-we-believe-bombshell-report-popes-knowledge-sexual-abuse There are reasons to be dubious about the allegations put forward by culture warrior Carlo Maria Viganò, a Benedict XVI ally. Mon, 27 Aug 2018 12:11:36 EDT Daniel Schultz 76945798-9e75-4ff1-9d3f-dbf0f394aade https://religiondispatches.org/2018/06/19/cardinal-dolans-pro-life-piece-more-evidence-pro-catholic-bias-rns-publisher Credible allegations of bias toward Catholicism have been recently made against Religion News Service. It’s hard to read a recent regurgitation by Cardinal Dolan of the Bishop’s position on reproductive rights as anything other than confirmation of those allegations. Tue, 19 Jun 2018 04:31:06 EDT Evan Derkacz 7004231b-f48d-4388-ba41-5db31267412a https://religiondispatches.org/2018/05/21/pierre-teilhard-de-chardins-legacy-eugenics-and-racism-cant-be-ignored-0 Teilhard’s insistence on a super-human, of not just spiritual but physical existence, dominated his thought over the last decade of his life—well after the death camps permeated the public consciousness. Mon, 21 May 2018 02:53:06 EDT John P. Slattery 9bfe19a2-0c95-45e2-904a-00f264669891 https://religiondispatches.org/2018/05/21/pierre-teilhard-de-chardins-legacy-eugenics-and-racism-cant-be-ignored After Bishop Michael Bruce Curry delivered his sermon at today’s wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, many observers around the world wondered, as one headline put it, “Who was the Jesuit priest mentioned during the Royal Wedding sermon?” On… Mon, 21 May 2018 11:28:51 EDT John P. Slattery 8b0864dd-ca12-40d9-a8b5-a69c39ace683 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/12/11/oedipus-complexity-it-enough-fire-men-accused-sexual-misconduct Stories of sexual abuse and misconduct are, of course, nothing new. The matter changes. So do the punishments and the means of restoration or reconciliation. When Oedipus, the legendary Greek king, was revealed to have engaged in an inappropriate sexual… Mon, 11 Dec 2017 01:04:21 EST Benjamin Dueholm c025fcec-e64d-485d-a3d5-c04231be8e02 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/04/03/gay-men-detained-and-killed-chechnya-and-more-global-lgbt-recap Gilbert Baker, who created the rainbow flag design that has become a symbol of the LGBT movement worldwide, died on March 31 in New York City. March 31 was also International Transgender Day of Visibility. The international anti-trans bus tour… Mon, 03 Apr 2017 01:09:16 EDT Peter Montgomery 3e5f4514-f396-4b13-805d-57ee3bcf42d5 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/02/17/creation-little-noticed-department-pope-francis-securing-liberal-reforms As Steve Bannon has allied with the pope’s bitterest opponents, liberals have had all the more reason to rally behind Francis. Fri, 17 Feb 2017 12:43:11 EST Cormac Shine 4187743d-bff6-4405-baa7-85ec0ddcca0e https://religiondispatches.org/2017/02/01/unified-catholic-opposition-trumps-muslim-ban-wishful-thinking It’s understandable that with people grasping for a light in the darkness in the wake of Trump’s Muslim travel ban, they would look to the leadership of the Catholic Church. After all, the institutional Catholic Church has consistently been a… Wed, 01 Feb 2017 04:33:02 EST Patricia Miller 9f19c1b7-f3aa-4f02-a290-22d9f494ac02 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/01/04/make-mass-latin-again-pope-francis-backlash-comes-home There’s beauty in mythology, to be sure. But there is also grave danger in believing mythologies can save broken institutions. Wed, 04 Jan 2017 02:16:32 EST Kaya Oakes a0d47aff-10ea-459a-b55b-77f3d4f525b3 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/12/21/no-shocker-gay-ex-jesuit-vatican-rejects-gay-priests-again I am not shocked by the Vatican’s recent affirmation of the 2005 ban on admitting gay men to the priesthood. There’s nothing new here. Despite the media and liberal priests’ attempt to portray the “ Who am I to judge?”… Wed, 21 Dec 2016 09:00:41 EST Benjamin Brenkert 1c0cef55-ef0b-4db9-92dc-17dc07d45367 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/11/28/catholic-feminist-isnt-oxymoron-and-other-tales-beleaguered-tradition In her latest book, journalist Celia Wexler explores the conflicted feelings many Catholic women have towards their faith and the attempts to make peace with the institutions and traditions that fail them. Mon, 28 Nov 2016 03:34:38 EST Celia Wexler 8a819f4c-ee58-49c8-b2ea-831fca606273 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/10/11/pope-francis-walks-lgbtq-people-one-step-forward-big-steps-back We will either learn to walk with one another, or we will be forced by dogma to condemn one another. Tue, 11 Oct 2016 09:00:06 EDT Kaya Oakes fb0a011b-b824-4b28-b497-6fd3dc64cab7 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/07/08/bishop-says-gay-couples-cannot-be-part-parish-life-does-rising-evangelical-political The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law released “A Development Agenda for Sexual and Gender Minorities.” A group of Arab LGBTQ activists living in the U.S. and Canada are planning a retreat in August to help them “mobilize… Fri, 08 Jul 2016 01:49:36 EDT Peter Montgomery 9d5d66c3-4cc2-49fb-aea7-a99e7f52b293 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/04/11/pope-francis-love-letter-opportunity-lost Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation on Love in the Family, leaves much to be desired—pun intended. If you are heterosexual, married, divorced, and remarried with an understanding parish priest, you have reason to be hopeful that your “irregular situation”… Mon, 11 Apr 2016 12:00:49 EDT Mary Hunt ef72050d-555f-4409-80d8-0e2b9fdebde9 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/04/08/popes-joy-love-brings-little-joy-lgbt-catholics-gay-atheist-malaysian-granted-refugee Catholic Church: ‘Joy of Love’ Inspires Little Joy in LGBT Catholics Pope Francis released a long-awaited Apostolic Exhortation on love and the family, which comes after fierce infighting at two synods at which bishops debated doctrine and pastoral approaches on… Fri, 08 Apr 2016 11:16:43 EDT Peter Montgomery b4fa32b6-c662-4a2e-8509-3f8ee918a25d