Cardinal Robert Prevost spent his career ministering in Peru and leads the Vatican's powerful office of bishops ...

It’s a stark visual, and perhaps a metaphor for the relegated role of women in the church ... story has never been substantiated. Pope Benedict IX, elected in 1032, and Pope Symmachus, elected ...

You spoke earlier of continuity between Peter’s successors, but wasn’t there some rupture between Francis and Benedict ... pope could, for example, undo the allowance for laypeople and women ...

STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Francis, like his predecessors, upheld the Church’s rule that women cannot be ... the leadership of Benedict XVI. Benedict’s unexpected resignation cleared the path for ...

Among the odd Benedict facts, Pope Benedict IX was the only person to serve as pope multiple times. He was the 145th, 147th and 150th pope ...