by CNA Staff Freiburg, Jul 26, 2021 / 06:30 am Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has expressed concern about the lack of faith within Church institutions in Germany. The retired pope made the comments in a written conversation in the August issue of the German magazine Herder Korrespondenz, marking the 70th …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Jun 29, 2021 / 12:00 pm Pope Francis thanked Benedict XVI on Tuesday for his continual prayer for the Church in his retirement, calling the pope emeritus “the contemplative of the Vatican.” Speaking from the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square from the Apostolic Palace on …

By CNA Staff Vatican City, Jun 10, 2021 / 05:40 am Pope Francis declined on Thursday the resignation of Cardinal Reinhard Marx, offered to him last month. In a June 10 letter, the pope asked the influential German cardinal to continue as archbishop of Munich and Freising. Writing in Spanish, …

by CNA Staff Vatican City, May 27, 2021 / 16:00 pm Gerhard Cardinal Müller on Monday called upon the Holy Father to intervene in the German situation to correct clerics who have attempted to bless same-sex unions, or encouraged such attempts. “For the sake of the truth of the gospel …

CNA Staff, Mar 12, 2021 / 03:00 am MT (CNA).- A third of all German Catholics are considering leaving the Church, according to a new survey published on Thursday. The representative study, unveiled March 11, was conducted by the Erfurt-based opinion research institute INSA Consulere on behalf of the Catholic …

CNA Staff, Oct 25, 2020 / 02:30 pm MT (CNA).- Benedict XVI has distanced himself from a Catholic community with which he had maintained close ties for decades. The German magazine “Herder Korrespondenz” reported Oct. 25 that the Pope Emeritus had taken the step regarding the Catholic Integrated Community. Referring …

CNA Staff, Oct 13, 2020 / 03:31 am MT (CNA).- A German archdiocese said Monday that it is preparing to open the beatification cause of a member of the White Rose anti-Nazi resistance group. A spokeswoman told CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, Oct. 12 that the Archdiocese of Munich …

CNA Staff, Jul 28, 2020 / 08:00 am MT (CNA).- Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has praised the “glorious music” of Johann Sebastian Bach in a message to a festival in Germany. In a statement released July 27 by the organizers of the 2021 Bach Festival in Leipzig, Benedict XVI noted …

CNA Staff, Jun 26, 2020 / 07:30 am MT (CNA).- A record number of Catholics formally left the Church in Germany in 2019, according to official figures released Friday. The statistics issued June 26 showed that 272,771 people exited the Catholic Church last year, a significant increase on the 2018 …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Jun 22, 2020 / 06:00 am MT (CNA).- Pope emeritus Benedict XVI arrived back in Rome Monday after a four-day trip to Germany to visit his ailing brother. The Diocese of Regensburg reported June 22 that 93-year-old Benedict XVI said goodbye to his 96-year-old brother, …