America provides below the full transcript of the pope’s press conference. The translation was made by Gerard O’Connell, its Vatican correspondent, who travelled on the plane with the pope. This is not an official translation. Q. During the visit to Korea, you reached out to the families of the Sewol ferry disaster and consoled them. Read more
A few years ago, Erie Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister, a prolific spiritual writer and one of the most prominent, outspoken contemporary American Catholic sisters, decided to finally tackle a book she had wanted to write for a long time. The result, The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully (Blue Bridge), beautifully reflects on the spirituality Read more
The wildly popular Pope Francis is more than a pontiff of the people. He’s an elite manager who’s reforming the Vatican’s troubled finances. The new pope wanted to talk about money. That was the message that went out to a group of seven prominent financiers—major Catholics all—from around the world in the summer of 2013. Read more
Over the years I have had numerous discussions with Catholic professionals around the country about making time for prayer and reflection during the busy work day. People have been interested in how I keep the Jesuit Daily Examen on my calendar, so I am sharing it here along with suggested times. The Examen is one Read more
They are the largest generation in history. In the United States alone, they number more than 78 million, even larger than the seemingly ubiquitous Boomers. They are the Millennials. They are changing our nation, our world, and our churches. For the purpose of today’s post, I want to focus on changes they are already bringing Read more
There has been extensive recent discussion of the circumstances of baby Gammy, suffering from Down’s syndrome and heart problems, and apparently left behind with the birth mother in Thailand by the Australian commissioning couple, though they took his well sister home. Australians have responded generously with support for this photogenic little boy so that he Read more
(RNS) Pope Francis departs next week (Aug. 14) on a five-day trip to South Korea, his first to Asia and the start of an important new papal focus on the region. In January, Francis will return to visit Sri Lanka and the Philippines, and a trip to Japan — where the pope wanted to go Read more
Not long ago, only a few people would make the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Now, over 200,000 people a year spend several gruelling weeks along the route. Traditionalists turn up their noses at the crowds, but the rewards are still vast. In the Middle Ages, pilgrimages were neither a quest for meaning, Read more
Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, but left behind death and destruction. Israeli sociologist Eva Illouz tells SPIEGEL that her country is gripped by fear and is becoming increasingly suspicious of democracy. SPIEGEL: There was widespread support in Israel for the operation in the Gaza Strip, despite the huge numbers of civilian Read more
Even historians still cannot agree on how the First World War began, writes Conor Mulvagh of the School of History and Archives at University College Dublin. They can broadly agree on what factors were involved but ascribing relative importance to a myriad of long-term and more immediate causal factors has kept academics, veterans, and politicians Read more