It is Pope Francis and his papacy that will define history, not his election, writes Frederick Kempe

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With Pope Benedict XVI’s sudden resignation, his successor faces a difficult task with a Church seen by many as outdated, and a papal bureaucracy deeply flawed, writes TP O’Mahony

No clear front-runner has emerged as a successor to Pope Benedict XVI who formally resigns today as leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

THE signs have been evident for some time — a pope no longer in control, unable to act decisively, resulting in embarrassing publicity and a leader showing increasing signs of being overwhelmed by the problems of a Church in deep crisis.

THE recent disclosure during the trial of Pope Benedict XVI’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, that he stole highly sensitive documents the pontiff had marked “to be destroyed”, raises the intriguing question: What else is missing from the papal archives?

It is 50 years since Vatican II, a surprise attempt to radically overhaul the Catholic Church. But its potential has been squandered, writes TP O’Mahony

THE rest of the world knew him as John Paul II.

CATHOLICS worldwide celebrated the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II, with the faithful jamming into churches to pray and witness on giant television screens the Vatican ceremony that brought him one step closer to possible sainthood.

BLESSED John Paul II was a colossus for more than 26 years both in the Catholic Church and in the wider world.

POPE Benedict XVI beatified Pope John Paul II before 1.5 million people in St Peter’s Square and surrounding streets yesterday, moving the former pontiff one step closer to sainthood in one of the largest turnouts ever for a Vatican Mass.

WITH life-size statues and T-shirts with John Paul II’s famous phrase “Be Not Afraid”, pope mania is well under way in Rome ahead of a May 1 ceremony that will put him on the path to sainthood.

TRAVELLING on a fleet of planes, trains and cars, more than 50,000 Poles are expected to flock to the Vatican for the beatification of “their” saint-to-be, Polish-born Pope John Paul II.

A vial of blood from Pope John Paul II will be installed as a relic in a Polish church soon after his beatification later this year.

I WAS astounded to read in your paper that Karol Jozef Wojtyla, alias John Paul II, is being beatified by Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, alias, Benedict XVI.

POPE Benedict has signed off on the miracle needed for the beatification of Pope John Paul II on May 1.

Polish composer Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki has died in his home city of Katowice following a serious illness. He was 76.

TO him, she was “My Dear Dusia” and he signed his letters “Br” — short for brother.

Poles planned vigils and concerts today to mark the second anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II.

There have been many books and several movies about the life of Pope John Paul II, but for the first time a Spanish film company in collaboration with the Vatican has put together a cartoon on the life of the late Polish Pontiff.

Poland’s parliament today marked the forthcoming first anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s death with a resolution expressing its “immense gratitude” to the late Polish-born Pontiff.

AN ITALIAN parliamentary commission has concluded “beyond any reasonable doubt” that the Soviet Union was behind the 1981 attempt to kill Pope John Paul II.

Poland’s Roman Catholic Church has invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz during his expected visit to the country in May.

A Polish opposition party today urged the government to buy the house where the late Pope John Paul II was born and which hosts a museum in his honour.

Cardinals will make another two attempts to elect a pope today after failing in their first vote of a historic papal conclave, in a secret and sacred quest to choose a new leader for the Roman Catholic Church.

OPPOSITION has now emerged to a German seen as a frontrunner to be the next pope, leaving Roman Catholic cardinals divided as they prepared for a conclave to elect the successor to Pope John Paul II.

In the spirit of secrecy during the week before their conclave to elect a pope, cardinals are supposed to keep a low profile. That has not happened for German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Clutching rosaries, medals and flowers, thousands of people filed past the simple white marble tomb of Pope John Paul today, as the Vatican re-opened the grottoes beneath St Peter’s Basilica.

AN edited version of the homily read, in Italian, by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger during the funeral Mass of Pope John Paul.

The world yesterday said a final farewell to Pope John Paul II.

LIFE came to a standstill in John Paul II’s native Poland as the country paused to pay its last respects to the late Pope as his funeral was celebrated in Rome.

ALL morning helicopters thumped the skies and police sirens wailed as motorcades crossed the city and the bell of St Peter's struggled to broadcast its message that the hour was drawing near.

AFTER Abraham Lincoln died in 1865 a joint resolution of the US Congress praised his "qualities of courage, will and indomitable persistence of purpose, which never flagged or faltered ...

FROM pilgrims burning candles at a grotto in France to a tiny wooden church in the Amazon, the world continued to mourn Pope John Paul II yesterday as details of his funeral were announced.

THE world came to know Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II, but Danuta Puklo remembers him as Lolek, the nickname for the generous boy who helped her pass a school test.

ROCK Hudson died in October 1985. His death convulsed the world not because a handsome if minor star had passed away, but because of how he died.

IN the end, the world’s immutable memory of Pope John Paul II, one of the towering religious influences of our time, will be one of admiration and awe for a man who strove heroically to the last to carry out his evangelical mission in the face of debilitating illness.

THE key to any man’s essence is the recurring phrase they use throughout life to spell out their central preoccupations. The phrase that surfaced again and again throughout the late Pope’s reign was ‘culture of death’.

POPE John Paul II, laid out in the splendid red reserved for papal mourning, showed the signs of suffering on his pale, serene face.

WHEN Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was made Pope, the Catholic world collectively gasped in astonishment.

In a sign of the decline of Pope John Paul II's decline, several cardinals from the US and Latin America said they were heading to Rome.

POPE John Paul II was nearing death last night as his health suddenly worsened, drawing anguished prayers from Catholics around the world reluctant to accept his historic pontificate was at an end.

ADORED by some, attacked by others, Pope John Paul is the most prominent religious leader and perhaps the most widely recognised person in the world.

MILLIONS of faithful around the world were praying for Pope John Paul II, as the 84-year-old head of the Catholic Church appeared to be approaching his final hours.