Based in Rome from 1978-1979, he covered two Papal transitions and the travels of Pope John Paul II.
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The reformers have become emboldened by an investigation into the leaking of papal documents.
The high-stress, high visibility papal position will certainly be a test of his endurance.
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Public relations will be a priority at a particularly sensitive moment of papal transition.
At precisely 20:00 local time (19:00 GMT) the doors of the papal villa clanged shut.
Sitting down at a long banquet table, the cardinals began to discuss a half-dozen papal candidates.
In one respect, the papal conclave was on the right track even before it started.
Paolo Gabriele was convicted of stealing papal documents and leaking them to the media.
Not until he has been inaugurated, will he take up residency in the papal apartment.
They suffered mob violence and frequent accusations of holding papal loyalties above republican values.
Pope Francis also took the bus, eschewing the traditional papal car service, according to Cardinal Dolan.
Pope Francis also took the bus, ditching the personal papal car service, according to Cardinal Dolan.
The transfer of papal power has almost always happened after the sitting pope has died.
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Lombardi said Monday that 4, 300 journalists have been accredited to cover the papal conclave.
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"At some point someone told him that wasn't a very papal gesture, " Vian said.
In order to keep them simple, papal tweets will not contain hashtags, he adds.
Papal spokesman Federico Lombardi said the article did not express the views of the Italian bishops.
The only other significant example of a papal resignation dates back even further in time.
But although open campaigning is forbidden, a papal election is still a highly political process.
The Pope is to arrive on 16 September, the first papal visit since 1982.
In November the court convicted a computer expert, Claudio Sciarpelletti, of helping leak the papal documents.
For a long time it aspired to be the non-papal Catholic church in the West.
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American democracy was contrasted with papal demagoguery, American piety with papal superstition, American modernity with papal obsolescence.
In 2006, the papal apartment, consisting of about 10 rooms, underwent a major three-month renovation.
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Throughout history, the transfer of papal power has almost always happened after the sitting pope has died.
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In 1982, Pope John Paul II arrived in Britain on the first papal visit there since 1531.
The territory of the former papal states is not even the most developed or law-abiding part of Italy.
Running through the yellowing subsidiary wire stories on papal deaths of yesteryear was like opening a time capsule.
In 1979, Pope John Paul II arrived in Ireland for the first ever Papal visit to the country.
There is no established process to remove a papal knighthood posthumously because the honour dies with the recipient.
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