and healthy new years eve. we are continuing to follow the breaking news out of the vatican. pope benedict the 16th has died at the age of 95. the vatican says the retired pope passed away early this morning. his funeral will be held on january 5th in st. peters square. presided over by pope francis. that is the man who became leader of the catholic church after benedict resigned from the role in 2013. msnbc looks back on his life and legacy. it was a resignation that shocked the catholic church. pope benedict, less than eight years after his election, he became the first pope and seven centuries to voluntarily retire. he said that he lacked the strength of mind and body to do the job. he felt like he was being prevented from being the pope in a way that he felt the pope should be present for the people of god. he was born joseph rat singer in wartime germany. in the deeply catholic weijia bavaria. he and his brother george people became priests. both eventually landed
should be present for the people of god. he was born joseph rat singer in wartime germany. in the deeply catholic weijia bavaria. he and his brother george people became priests. both eventually landed in rome. they both planned retirement and i moved back home when john paul the second guide. at the gathering of cardinals before the conclave to elect a successor, the cardinal sent a pointed message. you expect to portray for the holy spirit to enlighten us. no, i was there at the mass before they entered. he gave a scorching indictment of relativism and the world. it was a gauntlet. a gun on it he had zero now before. for almost a quarter century under pope john paul, he was the head of the office that oversees matters of church doctrine and morality. critics nicknamed him the rottweiler for his uncompromising views on priest celibacy, the ordination of
welcome back to morning joe. beautiful shot of the white house. let s take a look at the morning papers. the new york times, it s been described as one of the most direct speeches pope benedict has ever made. yesterday, he re-emphasized the roman catholic church s ban on women becoming priests and warned he would not tolerate disobedience on fundamental teachings. his comments came after a group of austrian priests recently challenged the vatican to abolish priest celibacy and open up the clergy to women. hey, willie yes, sir. who is sitting around the dinner table yapping while we re saying the friday prayer? not mike allen s fault. his mic was open, not his fault. we re just chatting. from the national journal online, for two years now,
now it is a race against time to figure out if the bin laden files were his aspirations or did someone in the field decide to put his murderous dreams in motion? pierre thomas, abc news, washington. a new study by the roman catholic church blames the priest sex abuse scandal on the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s. researchers say the abuse never had any connection with either priest celibacy or homosexuality. they say the offending priests weren t able to copy with social upheaval. victims groups dismiss the study saying it does not address the higher-ups who allowed the abusive priests to stay on. doctors say that congresswoman gabby giffords is recovering after surgery to repair a hole in her comes as relief to her husband, commanding the space shuttle endeavour 200 miles above earth. bob woodruff has details.