It is common that upon the death of a Pope, comments arise recalling his pontificate—some positive, others not so much. But ...

Catholics suffer from widespread ignorance of important, historical precedents of both female and lay ecclesial leadership.

Six hundred years later, Pope Gregory VII forced the brilliant monarch of the Holy Roman Empire, Henry IV, to walk barefoot in the snow for miles before granting him forgiveness at Canossa ...

Ambrogio Piazzoni, vice prefect of the Vatican Library in 2013 when Pope Benedict resigned, wrote briefly about elections by acclamation in his book ... Gregory III in 731, Gregory VII in ...

Papal conclaves have featured calls of election fraud and bribery so gauche that riches were wheeled in on donkey carts.

Below is a list of firsts and lasts when it comes to choosing a new pope. Many of the facts below come from historian Frederic Baumgartner’s 2003 book Behind ... took the name Gregory V upon ...

Ambrogio Piazzoni, vice prefect of the Vatican Library in 2013 when Pope Benedict resigned, wrote briefly about elections by acclamation in his book, "History of ... including Popes Gregory III in 731 ...

The Rev. Patrick Flanagan, associate professor of theology and religious studies at St. John’s University in New York, says Gregory X ... died to give Pope Clement VII time enough to escape ...

The last was Pope Gregory V, who was 24 when elected in 996. — Seven were between 25 and 40 years old. The last was Pope Leo X, who was 37 in 1513. — Eleven were between 41 and 50. The last was Pope ...

A papal conclave, following a strict canonical procedure, takes its natural course after the death of a pope and the election.