“Where’s my briefcase?” asked Pope Francis. The papal entourage had arrived at Fiumicino Airport in Rome for the pontiff’s first trip abroad. Jorge Mario Bergoglio had been pope for just four months and was now bound for Rio de Janeiro, where 3.5 million young people from 178 countries were waiting to greet him at World Read more
The last time there was this much excitement about a pope’s inaugural visit to the United States, Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” topped the Billboard charts, Jimmy Carter was in the White House, and cell phones were the size of a brick. But those aren’t the only differences between Pope John Paul II’s Read more
Couples who delete each other on Facebook are more likely to stay together, according to relationship expert Ian Kerner. The New York-based therapist claims that unfriending your significant other on social media can put the spark back into a relationship. Even better, he says, people should delete their Facebook accounts entirely to free up more Read more
On January 17, 2015, PBS aired a chilling documentary about the physician-assisted suicide of a healthy, thirty-four-year-old Belgian woman suffering from depression. The film opens with shots of Eva, in sweat pants and a T-shirt, petting her affectionate Labrador as she greets the youthful Dr. Van Hoey at her home. “Let’s get on with this,” Read more
As the plane carrying Pope Francis to Washington, DC, nears Andrews Air Force Base on Sept. 22, American TV likely will be full of breathless references to “Shepherd One” being on approach, “Shepherd One” touching down, and, eventually, the pontiff descending the steps of “Shepherd One.” It’s not often that a mere two words manage Read more
Young men and women in New Zealand are devoting their lives to the Church. We hear from some of them about their path ahead. Jane Maisey spent her twenties exploring, both physically and spiritually, looking at different religions and ways of being. But it wasn’t until the Christchurch earthquakes that she came back to the Read more
Australian nurse Nelley Youssef is immersed in a sea of millions of white-robed pilgrims doing the tawaf of the Kaaba, the black cuboid structure at the heart of Masjid Al-Haram mosque in Mecca, Saudia Arabia. She takes tiny, shuffling steps as she completes seven anti-clockwise laps that form one of many rituals she completes as Read more
“Now our people are criticising us. They want us to find them flights, visas and welcome centres in other countries. This is impossible. A state cannot do this. And neither can the Church.” The Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Louis Raphael I, says he is concerned. He is not convinced about certain consequences of Europe’s new Read more
Before he fired the shot, the Einsatzgruppe commander lifted the Jewish child in the air and said, “You must die so that we can live.” As the killing proceeded, other Germans rationalized the murder of Jewish children in the same way: them or us. Today we think of the Nazi Final Solution as some dark Read more
When Pope Francis makes his first trip to the United States this month, he will act on a grand stage much as previous popes have done. There will be a private meeting with the president and public Masses in Washington, D.C.; New York; and Philadelphia. He will address the United Nations. Two aspects of his Read more