Francis the Pacifist
When is it good to kill another human being? The only correct answer, the one offered by the Church, is “never.” As Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for...
Tagged: Peace
The Pope’s Clear Position on Ukraine
Wars make strange bedfellows, and their first casualty is truth. War is always the hour of darkness, when disorder reigns, brute power sets the rules, and the innocent are crushed; when human appetites — lust, greed, rage, revenge — are...
Easter with Pope Francis: Hope in the Peace of Christ
The Holy Week liturgies are always grueling ones for an elderly pontiff. This has been more apparent than ever this year with Pope Francis, whose ongoing mobility issues slowed him down during the recent trip to Malta as well as...
The abyss of evil at the heart of war
On Wednesday during his general audience, Pope Francis made an appeal for peace in Ukraine, and called for a day of prayer and fasting next week on Ash Wednesday: My heart aches greatly at the worsening situation in Ukraine. Despite...
O Christ, born for our sake
This morning, Pope Francis offered the customary Christmas Urbi et Orbi address (“to the city and the world”), offering prayers for peace, healing, and reconciliation for the people of countries facing crises and hardships throughout the world. Reporting for Catholic News...
Rejoice! The Lord Is Near
A reflection on the readings for the Third Sunday of Advent — December 12, 2021 Imagine, for a moment, that you are unjustly imprisoned, far from home, and prevented from doing the work to which you were called. But during...
What is robbing you of peace?
A reflection on the Sunday readings for March 7, 2021 — the Third Sunday in Lent You’re watching the evening news and there is a story about an elderly woman who was mugged on the street in broad daylight. The mugger...
Christ Is Our Peace
“Christ is our peace,” says St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians (2:14), but peace eludes us. Our quest to uproot injustice inevitably reveals more deep-seated injustices even while new ones continue to crop up. The problem is sin....
Peace Is Achieved in Respectful Conflict
Our world is in need of peace. All around the globe, and especially in the United States, we see the rotten fruits of a society that is not at peace. There is violence in the streets, rage on social media,...
A New Pacem in Terris
Fratelli Tutti, the newly-published encyclical, must be read carefully to be properly understood. We must avoid the risk of trivialization that focuses on two or three points and reduces the document to little more than a series of pious intentions....
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Quest for Peace
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagaski are infamous examples of mass destruction of human life during wartime. Two dates this month—August 6 and August 9—mark the 75th anniversaries of the bombings. On the first of the two anniversaries I...
Catholic women: witnesses of peace
“Even in the face of serious social discrimination, holy women have acted ‘freely,’ strengthened by their union with Christ. …In every age and in every country we find many ‘perfect’ women (cf. Prov. 31:10) who, despite persecution, difficulties and discrimination,...
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