By John Stegeman The Catholic Telegraph ROME — The first black smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel at 7:41 Rome time (2:41 EDT). Less than 20 minutes later Father Ryan Ruiz, a Cincinnati priest studying in Rome, took the time to speak with The Catholic Telegraph about …

On March 1, Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr celebrated mass at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains in downtown Cincinnati. The video above is his homily from that mass. Included below is the complete text of Archbishop Schnurr’s homily. Mass for Pope Benedict XVI Homily of Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr …

By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service  VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign the papacy was a “surprise, like thunder that gives no notice that it’s coming,” said one of the cardinals who was in the room when the pope announced his decision Feb. 11. “We …

By John Stegeman His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI is still fairly new to Twitter, but the pontiff has already set a record, beating out pop superstar Justin Bieber in re-tweets. Reuters reports that while the Pope still trails Bieber in followers (the Holy Father has 2.1 million followers to Bieber’s …