Benedetto XVI

Benedict XVI opens the Year of Faith, 50 years after Vatican II. Returning to the "real" documents of the Council to save us from “extremes of anachronistic nostalgia and running too far ahead”. Today more than ever evangelization means witnessing to a new life, transformed by God, and thus showing the path."

A passionate homily by Benedict XVI on the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, celebrated along with 22 new cardinals. Being Peter’s "rock" is not dependent on the person, but on the office entrusted to him by Jesus The Church "does not exist for Herself," but is "a window", which carries the light of God to a world that" tends to close in on itself. " The full text of the homily and the greeting of Card. Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. At the Angelus the Pope invites the faithful to pray for the 22 new cardinals.

Benedict XVI weaves artistic sensibility and theology, in front of the miraculous statue of the Mother of God who cradles her dying Son. The story of a small Catholic minority that has suffered the Nazi and communist persecution.

In his address before the German parliament, Benedict XVI offers ways to renew politics and social life for the world. Positivism is limiting because it marginalises the ethics and culture of politics and society.

As the Year for Priests comes to an end, Benedict XVI writes a letter to seminarians. Recalling his own personal experience, he outlines the traits a priest must have, which must be developed during their years in seminary. The Pontiff also talks about the relationship priests must have with God, their sensitivity towards popular piety, the need for a rational aptitude towards answering questions, and their growth towards human maturity.

The holy shroud is a reminder of Holy Saturday, the silence of God and the love that comes “in the extreme darkness of human solitude”. After two world wars, Nazi and Communist death camps, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, our age has become more like Holy Saturday. However, the Shroud is also “a source that whispers in silence. We can hear it and listen to it in the silence of Holy Saturday.”

Obedience to God is freedom, in the face of dictatorships of "consensus" and "conformity." Penance is grace, "under the attacks of the world that speak to us of our sins." The full text of the homily given by Pope during Mass with members of the Biblical Commission.

“The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word”, is the theme of the Pope’s Message on the occasion of the World Communications Day, released today and addressed especially to the priests. Through the use of internet priests and faithful can help non believer to discover the signs of God presence in the word. The web is a modern "Court of the Gentiles" of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Benedict XVI meets artists in the Sistine Chapel and calls for a renewed friendship between the "guardians of beauty" and the Church to give hope to the world and pluck man from banality and his slavery to materialism. The Pope’s full address to artists.

Benedict XVI recalls the martyrs under communism, who "drew strength" from the Gospel and calls everyone to a witness of love. In a world drowning in relativism and consumerism, focus on the education of youth and charity.

Here is the full text of the message Benedict XVI sent to Abruzzo earthquake victims, who were assembled today for the solemn funeral of 205 people who died in the quake. The message was read by the Pope’s personal secretary, Mgr Georg Gänswein, before the Mass that was presided by the Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone. Yesterday the earth shook again. The death toll now stands at 289. Italy’s highest political authorities were present at the funeral.

Below we publish the integral text of Benedict XVI’s homily delivered in today’s Chrism Mass. Christ sacrificed himself to consecrate us in truth. Priestly renewal lies in love of God’s Word, in prayer with the Church, in the renouncing of “self-realisation” and in the discovery of the joy of His love.