Antonio Socci: Benedict XVI’s Resignation May Have Been Invalid

Resignationism hitting the mainstream…

Italian Journalist Antonio Socci:
Ratzinger Resignation “May Not Be Valid”

Author and Journalist Antonio Socci

One year after Benedict XVI’s historic announcement of his impending resignation from the “papacy”, well-respected Italian journalist and author Antonio Socci reflects on what led Fr. Joseph Ratzinger to give up his claim to the papal office on February 28, 2013.

Writing for the Italian daily Libero on Feb. 12, 2014, Socci says that details about the resignation have emerged that may render it invalid under church law. (Both Novus Ordo and traditional Catholic canon law state that, among other possible reasons, resignation obtained through fear unjustly inflicted is invalid; see Novus Ordo Canon 188; Catholic Canon 185.)… READ MORE

The Vicar of Snark: How Francis has changed the Tone in the Vatican

Even the secular press is noticing…

The Vicar of Snark

Francis has definitely changed the tone in the Vatican…

[From The Week, U.S. Edition]

Pope Francis, Insult Comic

Hailed for striking a gentler tone, the pope is actually the vicar of snark

by Michael Brendan Dougherty

The pope’s favorite American prelate, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, opined this week on the character of the church’s biggest celebrity. According to O’Malley, Pope Francis isn’t about to launch a revolution in the church, he’s just changing the tone.

O’Malley said the shift in emphasis is necessary because the church has been in the past “too strident, maybe too repetitious.”

… READ MORE