To introduce the year of St. Joseph, Pope Francis wrote one of the most beautiful letters of his papacy, his Apostolic Letter Patris Corde. Throughout the letter, the Holy Father reflects on many characteristics of St. Joseph. In his reflection...
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?...
A group of Catholic scholars, writers, and clerics—including four bishops—recently issued a statement claiming that Pope Francis contradicts the teaching of the Council of Trent in no. 5 of his June 29, 2022 apostolic letter, Desiderio Desideravi. The authors of...
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...
A reflection on the Mass Readings for July 31, 2022, the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Audio of Homily will be posted here. Pope Francis spent the past week in Canada on a highly anticipated papal visit. The context of his...
Last week, I wrote about a group of US bishops, with the help of friendly media outlets, that has tried to convince Catholics that their initiatives, decisions, and public positions were in step with the pope’s message, even though they...
On July 14, the retired theology professor Larry Chapp published a response in Catholic World Report to a recent article of mine about Pope Francis’s exhortation Amoris Laetitia. In it, I sought to refute a common argument levelled against Amoris...
To think it was only a month ago that Francis’s announcement of an August consistory and his need to use a wheelchair due to a knee injury was fueling rumors that Pope Francis was planning to retire very soon. In...
Pope Francis has often condemned an over-intellectualized approach to the faith. In a 2018 Message for World Communications Day, he wrote: In Christianity, truth is not just a conceptual reality that regards how we judge things, defining them as true...
On Saturday, during the closing Mass for the tenth World Meeting of Families, Pope Francis preached a homily focused on the true freedom of self-sacrifice and the mission of families in the world today, a mission he recognized as courageous....
I was away for most of yesterday, and spent my entire evening at a farewell party for good friends. Due to some confusion and conflicting schedules, we don’t have a homily for today’s readings, so today I am sharing Pope...
The odd timing of a consistory to name 21 new cardinals and his decision to forego knee surgery and instead use a wheelchair prompted some Catholics to speculate that Pope Francis may announce his retirement soon. When Nicole Winfield of...
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