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In the last two conclaves, the cardinals elected “the smartest man in the room,” says Father Tom Reese. “Should they do that again, or should they elect someone who will listen to all the other smart people in the church?” More
After Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise announcement that he is resigning, the Roman Catholic Church is preparing for a conclave, where cardinals under the age of 80 will gather to elect his successor. Managing editor Kim Lawton looked at the centuries-old process of selecting the pope. More
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“The president’s State of the Union Address ends where his Second Inaugural Address began: the question of American civic identity” and, for religious citizens, “a view of democracy as an ongoing contest over sacred values.” More
“There were some bumps in the road” in Pope Benedict’s relationship with the Jewish community, says Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, but “they clearly were aberrations in a path that strengthened relations between the Church and the Jewish community.” More
Sister Maureen Fiedler, host of the public radio program “Interfaith Voices,” asks if lurking among the papal candidates there is “a pope who will look at the human equality of all persons, including men and women.” More
“I look forward to seeing who our next Holy Father is and how he is going to move the church into the future,” says Maureen Ferguson, senior policy advisor for the Catholic Association. More
Haris Tarin, director of the Washington, DC office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, says Pope Benedict XVI was outspoken on Syria, preemptive war, human rights abuses, and Middle East peace, and he leaves behind an overall legacy of “quite a positive interaction” between Christians and Muslims. More
This Catholic theologian says the church needs a new pope who is a man of the world with pastoral sensitivity, someone who will “walk in the shoes of Peter.” More
On Ash Wednesday, outside St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C., we spoke with Catholics about their reaction to the news that Pope Benedict will step down at the end of February, and what they hope to see in his successor. … More