AN UNREFORMED and unreforming papacy will serve only to extend and exacerbate the crisis that has blighted the Catholic Church since the second half of the pontificate of Pope Paul VI, who died in 1978.

With Pope Benedict XVI’s sudden resignation, his successor faces a difficult task with a Church seen by many as outdated, and a papal bureaucracy deeply flawed, writes TP O’Mahony

Housekeepers, car drivers and other people with access to cardinals during the conclave took an oath of secrecy yesterday, promising never to reveal the details behind the selection of the next pope.

THE scandals rocking the Roman Catholic Church in the United States are not only about paedophile abuse at parish level, or about covering up at a higher level, but also abuse at the highest level.