Where Peter Is

From Cancellation to Transformation

Cancel Culture, a term of recent origin often possessing a negative connotation, usually occurs after a person’s offensive words or harmful actions become public. The outcry from the public can lead to the person’s loss of employment, status, and/or reputation—thereby becoming cancelled. Those who bemoan Cancel Culture generally decry the cancellation, paying little...

Francis: A providential father

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview of Dr. Rodrigo Guerra by Miroslava López originally appeared in Vida Nueva Digital. This is WPI’s translation of the original Spanish. It has been translated and published with permission. —ML]   As we celebrate the eighth anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, we are compelled to try to understand its significance, beyond...

Can the Church Bless Same-Sex Unions? Seven Things to Know

Earlier today, March 15, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) published a document concerning the blessing of same-sex unions. While it’s only two pages long, and the Vatican provided additional commentary to clarify it, it’s guaranteed to be misrepresented in the secular media. Here are seven main points to take...

WPI Lenten Reading Recommendations

During our first-ever WPI Live event last week (catch it here), our group began a discussion of reading recommendations for this Lent. Whether you’re looking for action or contemplation, or some fiction to distract you while absent from social media, we thought we’d offer some more suggestions.  In case you missed it on...

Love for Love

A reflection on the Sunday readings for March 14, 2021 — the Fourth Sunday in Lent My parish has always maintained archives. Recently, our staff made a tremendous effort to clean and organize them. But we have also started something new. We have begun a book of chronicles. We are beginning to record significant...

Abandonment to Love: Francis’s papacy turns 8

Pope Francis was elected eight years ago today. I had been hoping to write something today to mark the anniversary. It’s growing late. But I can’t let this day pass without commenting on one aspect of Francis’s approach that is often misunderstood. Over these last eight years, many people have  criticized his “spontaneity.”...

Which Pope said this?

“Jesus Christ appears as the Spouse of the community that celebrates the Eucharist through the figure of a man who presides as a sign of the one Priest. This dialogue between the Spouse and his Bride, which arises in adoration and sanctifies the community, should not trap us in partial conceptions of power...

Vaccine Equity is a Human Right

Pope Francis has repeatedly insisted that the countries manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines (such as the U.S. and U.K.) ensure they be equitably distributed, especially to the Global South. During his historic trip to Iraq, he said that “This crisis calls for concerted efforts by all to take necessary steps, including an equitable distribution of...

Write Less, Read More; Talk Less, Listen More

In August of last year, I wrote a reflection on chronic illness, chronic pain, and the way world leaders, including Pope Francis and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, deal with these afflictions. Since I wrote this reflection, the subject has come home for me. While I’m still not a world leader (thank...

G’Day, Bishop Richard!

  Coming up on Where Peter Is Live: As Pope Francis approaches the eighth anniversary of his election as pope, Bishop Richard Umbers joins Rachel Amiri, Melinda Ribnek, and Mike Lewis from the land down under to discuss these last eight years and the issues facing the Church today.

The Pope has left Iraq. Is that it?

Pope Francis’s trip to Iraq has been one of the most energizing moments in recent Iraqi history. A moment of jubilation and hope that one analyst likened to the brief euphoria felt when Iraqi won the Asian Cup in 2007. Unfortunately, moments like this are few and far between in a country that...

Preslaysa Williams: Hallmark and Hard Topics

In the first installment of this series, I shared a study that showed the stark contrast between the ethnic and racial demographics of global Christianity and that of the leading public figures in Christian—especially Catholic—media in the United States. Focusing on racial exclusivity in Catholic communications, which is dominated by people of Western...