“A Difficult Easter” in Palestine
We of Where Peter Is mulled over writing something about what’s going on in Gaza for a long time before I offered to do so. The stakes could hardly be any higher for getting an intervention on this right or...
Tagged: war
The Pope’s War on War
This is an article that I’m nervous to publish, especially in light of the recent backlash against Pope Francis. This week, the pope has received a great deal of criticism, including criticism from many who typically view him favorably, following...
Pope Francis: “Stop the bombs and missiles now!”
In a recent interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Pope Francis powerfully stated: “I will never tire of reiterating my call, addressed in particular to those who have political responsibility: ‘stop the bombs and missiles now, end hostile stances...
Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented
In his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, the late Elie Wiesel, reflecting on the Holocaust, and his personal experience of it – being in the same World War II Nazi concentration camps where his mother, father and sister...
Reflections on Pope Francis’ 2024 World Day of Peace message
Fast-moving advancements in science and technology grab our attention, spark fascination, and receive automatic acceptance within our modern societies which crave new things, quick results, and instant gratification. Within such an atmosphere there is often little time given to examine...
Remembering the end of ‘the war to end all wars’ – the right way!
On the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month in 1918 an armistice was declared, effectively ending one of the worst conflicts in history – World War I. But had the Central Powers and the opposing Allied...
Pope Francis’s first 10 years: Key accomplishments
As we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the election of Jorge Bergoglio to the Holy See of Rome, I’d like to look back on some of the major contributions of his pontificate to date. I’ve identified seven: dialogue and synodality,...
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?...
“This terrible and inconceivable wound to humanity”
This morning, Pope Francis dedicated his entire Sunday Angelus address to the war in Ukraine, imploring Russian President Vladimir Putin to cease hostilities and calling for peace. Francis explained that he was doing so because “this terrible and inconceivable wound...
Pope Francis opens up
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...
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...
If You Want Peace, Defend Life
Editor’s Note: This article is a translation of a column that originally appeared on El Heraldo de Mexico on March 21, 2022. The Roman Flavius Vegetius composed a work called “Epitoma rei militaris” around the year 390. In it, the...
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