Pope Benedict XVI

As the Conclave begins

Sheila Liaugminas | 12 March 2013

The world is watching Rome and the Roman Catholic Church, only as it does it the big moments. The attention that was riveted instantly on the papacy when Pope Benedict XVI announced his retirement has only intensified over the subsequent weeks. Now it’s in overdrive, as the College of Cardinals enters the Conclave to elect a new pope.

‘Peter is not there’

Sheila Liaugminas | 05 March 2013

The official Latin term for the time between popes holding the office of the papacy is the Interregnum. There is no pope. Vatican operations go into near shutdown or at least restricted mode with key officials doing only essential duties, attending to the most critical things, while the college of cardinals carry the weight of the church and world on their shoulders. But there’s no word for the uneasiness countless Catholics feel around the world for this time of the sede vacante, the empty seat. As one renowned cardinal put it last time around, in 2005, ‘it’s frightening, Peter is not there.’

Pope Benedict’s last audience

28 February 2013

The world is watching. Hopefully, they’re watching, reading and listening to reputable sources on what the pope said at his last public address.

Of Pope Benedict XVI and Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Sheila Liaugminas | 22 February 2013

So there, side by side in two top-of-the-fold articles in the Sunday New York Times the other day, were two stories that are seemingly unrelated, but are totally of a piece. A few days later now, they demand attention.

While Benedict XVI is still Pope

Sheila Liaugminas | 19 February 2013

The media and Vatican watchers are busy speculating about the recent past (what ‘really’ prompted this resignation) and the future (who is ‘most likely’ to replace him), I think it’s important to take the opportunity while he’s still in the Chair of Peter to recognize what is the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI.

Dear media covering Pope Benedict

Sheila Liaugminas | 15 February 2013

Do your homework.

Pope Benedict’s retirement fatigue

Sheila Liaugminas | 12 February 2013

The man himself is clearly a tired and overly wrought servant who recognizes and admits his failing health and strength. The global coverage of his historic announcement to step down has unleashed an exhausting barrage of analysis, mostly from those who know not of what they speak.

The Mideast story hardly covered

Sheila Liaugminas | 09 February 2011

Behind the headlines coming out of Egypt and other countries in political and social upheaval in the Middle East, the story is about human life and striving and destiny, maybe more than it ever was before social communications media empowered these peoples’ revolutions.

The devastation of sin in the Church

Sheila Liaugminas | 05 January 2011

One year ago to the day, Archbishop Jerome Listecki delivered a homily about the nature of sin at his installation Mass as the new shepherd of Milwaukee who inherited the wreckage of its abuse scandal. Today, he went before the people, the press and the world to declare the natural progression of its consequences…..bankruptcy.

Peace 2011

Sheila Liaugminas | 01 January 2011

‘Can’t we all just get along?’

‘Rights and duties of the state and individual’

Sheila Liaugminas | 20 September 2010

When Pope Benedict makes apostolic visits to to various countries, his remarks and addresses always reflect keen insight into that culture’s strengths and weaknesses. But he’s really addressing people of the world beyond that nation in his message of universal human rights and dignity.

Witnesses to peace and charity

Sheila Liaugminas | 06 June 2010

Two ‘old men’, in a brief and little noticed exchange on a distant island, show the way to get along.

“Forgiveness does not replace justice”

Sheila Liaugminas | 12 May 2010

Big statement by Pope Benedict, who answered journalists questions on the plane as he traveled to Portugal, a now familiar habit of his on these journeys. They’re spontaneous encounters, Benedict and the press, and always yield interesting thoughts and sound bites. This one had a bunch of them…

A believer’s heart in a digital world

Sheila Liaugminas | 27 April 2010

Cyberspace can be so cold. And impersonal. That, in spite of the glut of humans interacting digitally. That's why Italian bishops called a congress on technology, and the pope called on them to show some heart and soul...

To set the record straight in Milwaukee

Sheila Liaugminas | 01 April 2010

This is a stop-the-presses story. The unrelenting attacks on Pope Benedict XVI have a lot to do with a lot of cases and allegations but one of the central flashpoints is the now notorious Milwaukee scandal. Because the New York Times has been driving this story without availing themselves of the facts behind it, the priest who was the presiding judge over the canonical criminal case of Fr. Lawrence Murphy has spoken out to correct the record.

Church attacks and the facts

Sheila Liaugminas | 30 March 2010

The media mantra over the weekend, and they increasingly hyperventilated as the tone ramped up, was ‘What did the Pope know and when did he know it?’ Headlines by Sunday on the 24/7 news cycles were something having to do with ‘Calls for the Pope to resign! Yes, Benedict is beleaguered, as is the Church, but one casualty out of the public eye is truth.

The State is not the source of ethics

Sheila Liaugminas | 17 February 2010

Religiously informed people already know from where moral guidelines derive, and it's not government. But Pope Benedict XVI brought up that point again when he addressed “problems revolving around the issue of bioethics” with the Pontifical Academy for Life, in their annual meeting.

Without people, who would appreciate trees?

Sheila Liaugminas | 04 January 2010

Well, that’s not exactly how he said it. But Pope Benedict XVI’s message for World Day of Peace this year must have certainly grabbed the attention of the most ardent ecologist, environmentalists and naturalists.

Media pollution

Sheila Liaugminas | 14 December 2009

Pope Benedict asked the Copenhagen summit on climate change to consider another way the air gets dirtied, and we’re all familiar with it.