On this date, Aug. 6, 1978, St. Pope Paul VI died. Media coverage was uncharitable in its estimation of his tenure, but as time passes it has become clear that he was the great pope of the 20th ...

Raphael Merry del Val was a special assistant to—and close friend of—Pope Pius X The only English-born pope was Adrian IV in the twelfth century. But another such candidate came close, in successive ...

As soon as his name was read from a balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Joseph Ratzinger was being considered a transitional pope because of his age - at 78, the oldest pontiff elected to lead the Roman ...