St. Pope John Paul II Archives

Explaining papal calm on security, plus a note on the convert debate
- Analysis
- August 20, 2017
In the wake of the latest spike in violence across Europe, the Vatican says it’s not taking extra security precautions, in part because safeguards were already “very strong.” Popes often feel a greater degree of calm about their safety than other public figures, because, let’s face it, from their point of view, they’ve got the ultimate safety net.
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Reflections on ‘Tettamanzi lesson’ for handicapping papal elections
- Analysis
- August 8, 2017
Italian Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan, for much of his tenure, was considered a slam-dunk obvious candidate to be pope. In the end, he had no real traction, which illustrates a key insight about papal conclaves: Like most other electoral exercises, sometimes front-runners win, and other times they vanish before your very eyes.
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Progressive champion once seen as papal candidate dies in Milan
- Global Church
- August 5, 2017
Italian Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, who was nominated as Archibishop of Milan by John Paul II and held the post for nearly a decade, has died on Saturday at the age of 83. The cardinal was a moral theologian who contributed to the writing of the encyclical Evangelium Vitae and was for many years considered a possible candidate to becoming pope. As archbishop, Tettamanzi in many ways anticipated the ‘Pope Francis style’ by reaching out to the peripheries and to the marginalized.
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Vatican tailors, cobblers try to adapt to Francis’s ‘papal athleisure’

June 12, 2017

Pope Francis’s emphasis on simplicity and frugality is a hit all around the world, but it’s produced just a bit of backlash among fashion-conscious Italians, including an exclusive club of tailors and shoemakers who outfit pontiffs — some of whom are a little nostalgic for the days when being pope also meant dressing to the nines.

Cardinal Bertone talks about the third secret of Fatima

The “third secret of Fatima” refers to a message during the apparitions predicting suffering and persecution of the Pope and the Church. Unlike the first two secrets – a vision of hell and a prediction of World War II – the third secret was not initially revealed by Sister Lucia, one of the three children Mary visited in 1917.

Trump nominee wrote on Catholic judges and the death penalty

President Donald Trump selected Catholic law professor at Notre Dame, Amy Coney Barrett, for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1998 Barrett wrote an article on the debated topic of the death penalty and the role of Catholic judges when deciding such cases.