The former pope Benedict XVI has said that he is 'on a pilgrimage Home' in a letter to an Italian newspaper in which he said this was the 'final period of my life'.
The so-called 'foreign minister' of the Russian Orthodox Church's Moscow Patriarchate is on the move. Last week, he gave a notable and bold speech in London organised by the Russian Embassy, before travelling to Rome to meet with Pope Francis, who raised the thorny issues of Ukraine and religious freedom in Russia, and, more ceremonially, Francis' predecessor Pope Benedict XVI.
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, who turns 90 next month, is mentally fit and reading, praying and preaching as he has since his resignation as pope in 2013, according to his closest aide.
A Catholic commentator in Italy is suggesting that some of the cardinals who voted for Francis to succeed Benedict XVI now want him to resign to avert a rift in the Church
The BBC has admitted a report that accused the Catholic Church of "silence" in response to the fate of the Jewish people under the Nazis was unfair, while at the same time the author of the book Hitler's Pope has robustly defended his thesis.
The former Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out in damning terms against the "church tax" system which has made the German church one of the wealthiest Catholic churches in the world.
Speaking frankly in a new book, former Pope Benedict XVI warns that the "de-Christianisation" of Europe is underway and that Christianity is disappearing from the fabric of society.
Pope Francis' predecessor recently granted a rare interview with the Italian newspaper La Reppublica, where he talked about his term as the Roman Catholic Church leader, his life after his resignation, and even his personal favourite saints.