Keith Cardinal O’Brien, archbishop since 1985 of Edinburg and St. Andrews, Scotland, had his resignation accepted by Pope Benedict XVI effective yesterday, weeks before his 75th birthday. What’s more, O’Brien has recused himself from the upcoming conclave. It appears that credible accusations have been made against O’Brien concerning inappropriate advances toward seminarian... More

The Holy Spirit will guide the conclave. Period. No doubt at all. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take a peek at the signs of the times. I believe some of the signs point toward Cardinal Dolan. John White wrote about this earlier tonight, but there’s more to the chatter than he touched on. The notion of a pope from the United States would have been laughable when Benedict was elec... More

A quick note on Benedict’s departure: His departure is sad, but I am over the sadness and happy for him. If Peter Seewald’s report is true… ‘[Pope Benedict XVI's] hearing had gone down, he was blind in the left eye, his body had grown thinner,’ Seewald wrote in German magazine Focus and Italian Corriere della Sera.” …then I do not begrudge him retirement... More