Having returned from his journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, Pope Francis dedicated his General Audience address today to reflect on the pilgrimage. We have already discussed his time in the DRC, so let’s fast forward...
When news of the death of Pope Benedict XVI broke on December 31, the expectations of many were shattered in a corner of the Church. It was not the result of grief over the death of our pope emeritus, but...
On January 6, in a move that was unnoticed by most of the world, but has sweeping implications for the Church in Rome and potentially for the global Church in the future, Pope Francis promulgated a new apostolic constitution, “In...
Pope Francis, in a letter accompanying Traditionis Custodes — his document restricting the pre-Vatican II form of the Mass — wrote that most people understand that the action taken by his two predecessors to accommodate the celebration of the older...
Capitalism is an economic and political system in which most of a nation’s trades and industries (its capital goods, including the land and natural resources) are controlled (i.e., owned and managed) by private owners for profit, rather than by the...
In his conversation with the editors of Jesuit journals in Europe last June, Pope Francis recalled the acute hostility of some conservative Catholics towards the Second Vatican Council during its aftermath, even among the Jesuits themselves.[1] Some Jesuits tried to...
Back in January, I read a new book titled, Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy by the economist, Tony Annett. Just two chapters in and I was hooked. Those first chapters were the most comprehensive, yet accessible, survey...
Following the election of US Military Archbishop Timothy Broglio as president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), a media debate over his status as a “pro-Francis” or “anti-Francis” bishop has erupted. Many voices have spoken out for and...
“It is to give proof of a submission which is far from sincere to set up some kind of opposition between one Pontiff and another. Those who, faced with two differing directives, reject the present one to hold to the...
Yahoo! News ran an interesting analysis of the US response to the synod on synodality on Tuesday. Every noun and adjective in that sentence other than “Tuesday” might typically raise eyebrows, but the article, by senior editor Peter Weber, did...
It’s been two years since Pope Francis released Fratelli Tutti, his remarkable encyclical on fraternity and social friendship. When Laudato Si’ came out in 2015, I wrote “Ten Quick Takeaways” for Commonweal magazine. Now I’ve decided to do the same thing for Fratelli Tutti. Why two years late?...
“You know, Phaedrus, writing shares a strange feature with painting. The offsprings of the painting stand there as if they are alive, but if anyone asks them anything, they remain most solemnly silent. The same is true of written words....
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