Why smart people believe crazy things
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...
Category: Analysis
Bishops of Rome, Petrine Popes, and Popes Emeritii
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...
Ecclesia Dei, Summorum Pontificum, and the SSPX
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...
The Dream of Pope Francis — Socialist? Capitalist? Distributist?
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...
The worldview of Vatican II
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...
Interview with Tony Annett – A More Just Economy
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...
Anti-Francis? Broglio, Sodano, and “el Obispo”
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...
Addressing contradictions in the papal Magisterium
“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...
The Synod on Synodality: Mission Accomplished?
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...
Ten Takeaways from Fratelli Tutti
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?...
What is the Church’s principle of orthodoxy?
“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....
Pope Francis’s message to world religious leaders
The primary reason for Pope Francis’s trip to Kazakhstan this week was to attend the VII Congress Of the Leaders Of World And Traditional Religions. During his address on Wednesday, September 14, the pope spoke forcefully about the principle of...
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