The man who fought papal infallibility

From America Magazine-

The French Revolution and its pan-European, Napoleonic aftermath traumatized the traditional ruling classes, clerical and lay. The revolution’s cry of liberty, equality and fraternity turned out to be, as they saw it, a recipe for carnage and chaos. When the revolutionary government seized the property of the French church, it reduced to penury that extraordinarily wealthy institution.

Wherever Napoleon’s armies went—and they went just about everywhere—an unbending policy of secularization followed, which included suppression of religious institutes and radical reorganization of church structures. In the Treaty of Tolentino, 1797, Pope Pius VI, thoroughly humiliated, had to pay a huge indemnity, agree to French occupation of the most important cities in the Papal States, like Bologna and Ferrara, and cede to Napoleon possession of hundreds of precious manuscripts and works of art. He died two years later in France as Napoleon’s prisoner.

More here-

https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2017/06/13/man-who-fought-papal-infallibility

Why The Pope Matters

From Huffington-

An estimated 1.5 million people are expected to join Pope Francis on September 27 for a celebration of the Mass at the culmination of the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. The massive gathering, plus the pope’s participation in the Festival of Families the day before, which is expected to draw close to 750,000 people, has led to the coining of the term “Popeapocalypse”.

Universities are closing, pilgrims are staking sleeping plots in the Philadelphia Zoo, the mass transit system is holding a lottery for train tickets and women expecting to give birth in the area are looking at traveling to other cities -- all in anticipation of Pope Francis's visit.

There is no other religious, entertainment or political leader alive today who could garner anywhere near the kind of response inspired by the pope -- a fact that leaves some people scratching their heads and wondering: why? 

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-pope-francis-matters_55d370dee4b07addcb443e0c

What a pope can and cannot do: Doctrine limits new pope on changes

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-

As the world awaits a new pope, polls are taken, essays written and hopes expressed for what he might change. Priestly celibacy? Contraception? The working language of the Vatican Press Office?
The latter would be most feasible, but probably would likely involve a tough internal political battle for the new pontiff and his aides. There are theological and logistical limits on the changes he can make. He can't create new doctrine out of thin air.

"Popes are servants of the church's settled tradition, not the tradition's masters," said papal biographer George Weigel, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

While the pope has authority to govern the church, he must answer to its doctrine as a president answers to the Constitution, said Edward Peters, canon law professor at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.
"There are an awful lot of things he's in charge of, but he's not free to change a doctrine of the church or to alter the fundamental structure of things like the papacy," he said.
Some changes that laity say they want from a new pope may involve media-based misconceptions. A 2012 poll from the Public Religion Research Institute found that 60 percent of American Catholics want the church's public policy statements to focus more on the obligation to help the poor, even if that means speaking less about abortion.

Read more:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/world/what-a-pope-can-and-cannot-do-doctrine-limits-new-pope-on-changes-678697/#ixzz2N8Ib5s5g

Papal conclave to begin March 12 for Benedict’s successor

From The Washington Post-

The College of Cardinals will convene Tuesday to begin the formal process of selecting a new pope to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, the Vatican announced Friday.

In their eighth general congregation, or pre-conclave meeting, the cardinals voted to start the conclave Tuesday afternoon, after a morning “pro eligendo Romano Pontifice” Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The cardinals will convene inside the Sistine Chapel, and they are sworn to secrecy and barred from contact with the outside world until their deliberations are complete. Voting begins the first afternoon. If no papal candidate receives the required two-thirds of the votes, the ballot is repeated twice each morning and afternoon. If, after the third day, no pope is elected, a one-day break for prayer is permitted. Since the early 20th century, no conclave has lasted more than five days.

More here-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/cardinals-to-vote-soon-on-when-papal-conclave-will-begin/2013/03/08/a0c719c0-87ed-11e2-999e-5f8e0410cb9d_story.html