Pope Benedict XVI

Latest Articles

Patronage = corrpution

Plus, the Pope + condoms
The Massachusetts legislature is shocked — shocked! — that patronage is rife in the Probation Department! Shocked that it exists anywhere in state government! And it looks as if the both the House and the Senate will be damned if they are going to do anything about it.
By EDITORIAL | November 23, 2010

The Church and abuse

Plus, the Republicans' dark soul and the Bay State's education failure
If the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church is to regain secular respect, and if it is to reassure its troubled communicants that it is worthy of their devotion, it must reconcile itself to the reality that child abuse is not just a horrendous sin requiring penance and spiritual absolution, but also a vile crime that demands civil prosecution.
By EDITORIAL | March 31, 2010

Judicial ups and downs

Plus poppy hypocrisy, pressuring the Pope, and even more ‘Buttercup’ trivia
It was about time that Rogeriee Thompson was finally confirmed (unanimously, we might add) by the United States Senate for what amounts to an historic spot on the Federal Court of Appeals.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | March 24, 2010

Ghouls on parade

Profiting from the dead; more on ‘Buttercup’; and the latest in Pawtucket
The tale of local businessman Joseph A. Caramadre, who paid the terminally ill a fraction of the face value for the right to buy variable annuities in their names — annuities that paid out in full, plus interest, upon their deaths — is enough to make your skin crawl.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | March 17, 2010

Continuing homophobia

Letters to the Portland Editor, November 27, 2009
Deirdre Fulton's and Shay Stewart-Bouley's comments and Seth Berner's letter on the Marriage Equality Act repeal are insightful. I would add another perspective.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | October 27, 2010

Harvard ‘ACT UP’ show gets rise from right-wingers

Tea Baggers Meet the Tea-Baggers Dept.
Taking a detour from directly bashing President Obama, right-wingers are now hot and bothered by a Harvard art exhibit. And they have an Obama administration foil toward whom they can channel their bile.
By GREG COOK | November 02, 2009

Father Feeney

A Heretic Courted By The Church
Leonard Feeney, a defrocked Jesuit priest and pretty much of a legend in this city as a result of the “sermons” he preached on the Common every Sunday without fail for eight years, from 1949 to 1957, attracting sometimes as many as a thousand people to heckle and to laugh as much as to listen—Father Leonard Feeney is in the news again.
By DAVE O'BRIAN | October 09, 2009

Play by play: July 17, 2009

Plays from A to Z
Boston's theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | July 15, 2009

Play by play: July 10, 2009

Plays from A to Z
This week in Boston theater
By JEFFREY GANTZ | July 08, 2009

Keeping faith

Piers Paul Read looks inside the Church
His publicist calls Piers Paul Read "the anti-Dan Brown." She's capitalizing on a buzz - worthy name, sure, but it's a fairly insightful description of a man whose latest book, The Death of a Pope , explores not the Brownish theme of the Catholic Church secretly at work in world affairs, but rather its inverse.
By JEFF INGLIS | June 03, 2009

Catholic Tilt

James Carroll justifies his faith
If, sometime in the next few decades, humanity kicks the religion habit once and for all, the current crop of atheist agitators will deserve plenty of credit.
By ADAM REILLY | April 02, 2009

Interview: James Carroll

The full transcript of the Phoenix's conversation with the author
The Phoenix 's Adam Reilly recently spoke with Globe columnist James Carroll about his new book, Practicing Catholic (Houghton Mifflin), and his critical but durable relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.
By ADAM REILLY | April 01, 2009

The problem with the Church's selective embrace

Vatican City
Pope Benedict recently lifted the excommunication of four bishops who had been consecrated without the required Vatican consent.
By MARY ANN SORRENTINO | February 12, 2009

Crossword: ''Game theory''

I think I see a little pattern
I think I see a little pattern
By MATT JONES | May 14, 2008

Beating up on Chris (times two)

Matthews gets dissected; Young goes egotistical in ATM contretemps
It’s nice to see the rest of the world picking up on something we Vo Dilunduhs have known for years.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | April 16, 2008

Cracking the nutcase

Letters to the editor
Since Colbert is making fun of know-it-all, combative, mean-spirited talk-show hosts, except when he is going after targets such as Bush, he isn’t Rambo-like.
By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | November 28, 2007

While you were out . . .

Yes, stuff happened in Boston during your summer break. But we’ve got it covered.
When you’re a student, it can seem as if reality just freezes when you leave town for the summer.
By ADAM REILLY | September 04, 2007

The 100 unsexiest men 2007: 80-71

By | April 12, 2007

Worst in breed: Newsmakers

The 100 Unsexiest men 2007
Who are the unsexiest newsmaking men of 2007?
By PHOENIX STAFF | April 12, 2007

Natural born liar

“Shots and Beer” lives in persistent denial
If you ever wanted a definition of “congenital liar,” just look at Dick “Big Time” Cheney.
By PHILLIPE & JORGE | January 31, 2007

Clerical error

The kids haven’t got a prayer
Oliver O’Grady, “Father Ollie,” the pastor of a Catholic Church in a bucolic, tight-knit Northern California community, would have felt at home in The Bells of St. Mary’s . Watch the trailer for Deliver Us from Evil (QuickTime)
By PETER KEOUGH | October 11, 2006