Benedict XI

With the death of Pope Benedict XI the Catholic world has lost an unrivalled receptacle of theological knowledge, intellectualism and lived experience.

Not a day goes by that I don't miss Pope Benedict xi.

Then the Vatican, which recently digitally blurred out embarrassing lines of a letter sent by Pope Benedict XI, removed the text from its website.

But even without disputing Catholic doctrine, Francis went further than before in critiquing the institutional church, promoting a more accessible, lay-centered Catholicism than his predecessor, Benedict XI.

Benedict XI Resigns, 2013 Benedict’s resignation came as a real shock—he’s the first pope to resign in nearly 600 years, with the last resignation being Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 to end a church schism....