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The surprising election of the first American pope felt fraught and disorienting to Roman Catholics around the world, who had considered such an outcome unlikely and perhaps unwelcome — until Pope Leo XIV stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and chose to speak a few sentences in Spanish. In an instant, the new…
In the fall of 2024, the cardinal who is now Pope Leo XIV sat at a large round table inside the Vatican, discussing the challenges that face the Roman Catholic Church with a cardinal from Ethiopia, archbishops from Cameroon and Kenya, a cardinal posted to Mongolia, and bishops from Texas and Liberia. Joining them at…
In retrospect, Pope Leo XIV had it all going for him. The new pope, whose election on the second day of the conclave stunned the Roman Catholic world, seemed to be from two places at once. He was born and educated in the United States, a country vital to the church’s finances. But he was…
Of all the contenders to be the next pope, Danny Kind might not be an obvious choice. His shaggy hair is tinted green, and the other day he was wearing a Korn T-shirt under his ceremonial robes. “I’m an Ashkenazi Jew from Orlando, so I’m not very Catholic,” he said. There’s also that. None of…
After the men who will select the next pope were locked inside the Sistine Chapel without cellphones on Wednesday, the only thing left to do was wait for them to send a signal to the outside world. By smoke. The highly secret voting began inside what is possibly one of the world’s most secure vaults…
The European nobles and politicians arrived in the gardens of Palazzo Brancaccio in gowns and tuxedos, ready for aperitivi with the Catholic power brokers and pilgrims from America. Spritzes by the grand fountain progressed to entrees inside the palace, beef cheek cooked at a low temperature and served on orange potato velouté. Brian Burch, President…
In the days after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, offered himself up as a hostage in exchange for the freedom of kidnapped Israeli children. The offer, reported by Vatican News, the Holy See’s news portal, was not taken up, but it nevertheless drew attention to…
Cardinals are not the only ones who have arrived in Rome for the conclave to pick Pope Francis’ successor. Since Francis’ death last month, survivors of sexual abuse and those who monitor the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of abuse cases have also arrived, hoping to persuade cardinals to make the issue a priority when considering…
The cardinals who have traveled to Rome to elect the next pope at a conclave next week sometimes look as ideologically polarized as many secular voters around the globe. At first glance, they appear to split along the kinds of left-right lines that characterize political contests elsewhere. Many conservative Roman Catholic Church leaders disagreed with…
For betting types, the conventional wisdom says not to put your money on a pope from the United States. Yet one American some Vatican watchers say could scrape together enough votes is Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69, a Chicago-born polyglot who is viewed as a churchman who transcends borders. He served for two decades in…
