Monsignor Kevin Irwin is professor of liturgical studies at the Catholic University of America. He can discuss the progression of Benedict’s views on human stewardship of natural resources in his major discourses of moral teaching.

The Rev. Matthew Fox is a former Dominican priest who was silenced by the Vatican in 1988 for his theological writings. Fox is now an Episcopal priest. He is the author of a 2011 book, The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved.

Image Books, a division of Random House, has published many of Pope Benedict XVI’s English-language books, including his most recent. In addition, Image published the Spanish-language edition of The Infancy Narratives in the United States in February 2013.

Read the text of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation announcement.

NBC News posted a timeline of the pope’s life on Feb. 11, 2013.

On Feb. 11, 2013, Time magazine provided reactions from German leaders to the news about their native son.

Radio Free Europe posted a Q-and-A interview with Kishore Jayabalan, who heads the Rome office of the U.S.-based Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. Among other things, the institute official speculates that Benedict might move back to Germany.

A Feb. 11, 2013, Los Angeles Times blog post gives the reaction of Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who participated in the 2005 conclave that elected Benedict as pope and who will travel to Rome to help choose the next pontiff.

Bruce Bastian is the founder of the B.W. Bastian Foundation, based in Orem, Utah, which works to support LGBT people and people with HIV/AIDS. Bastian’s story of growing up gay and Mormon was featured in the book Crisis: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay in America […]