The Vatican owes Rome some 5 billion euros. The Court of Justice of the European €Union (CJEU) ordered Italy to recover the ICI property tax that the catholic Church never paid to the Italian government. The European judges have decided to rule out a 2012 decision of the European Commission and a 2016 judgment of Read more
Politicians being politicians have sought technocratic solutions: earlier this year, the UK introduced a minister for loneliness and now Fiona Patten, a Victorian upper house MP (Australia) and leader of the Reason party, has proposed the state government do the same. The minister would, it’s been suggested, work across the health, infrastructure, justice and communities Read more
It is 8am and the rain is coming down in sheets. The streets are empty except for a dozen women and their pimps – women from some of the world’s poorest regions including Moldova, Romania, West Africa and Southeast Asia. Some are still in their teens. Not far away are numerous massage parlors and saunas offering women Read more
Less than a third of the country’s prisons provide intensive Māori-focused rehabilitation. That’s despite Māori making up more than half of the country’s prison population. Former prisoners were calling for more Māori content across the board in prison. Only five out of the country’s 18 prisons offer Te Tirohanga, a rehabilitation course tailored for Māori Read more
For the sake of all the beauty and goodness in the church, let us get beyond our grumblings. There has been a lot of bad news lately. We are like little fish swimming in a sea of light but seeing only the patches of darkness that actually make space for future growth. Trouble is, we Read more
The genius of the American founders lay in their ability to design institutions that would call forth the best in a fallen humanity while containing the worst. The separation of powers in the U.S. Constitution, novel for its time, is a good example of this theo-political balancing act: No single person can be trusted to Read more
Sunday Nov. 18 was the International Day of the Poor. This is not a celebration of poverty equated with that type misery that should be eradicated, but of poor women and men who cannot be eradicated, because they are people. Christ told us the poor will always be with us. But why? We always imagine Read more
In the celebrated words of Kris Kristofferson, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” In the aftermath of the recent revelations of clergy sex abuse by the attorney general of Pennsylvania and in anticipation of similar disclosures by attorneys general across the country, the bishops find themselves liberated to speak the truth about Read more
An independent laity run board that would hold bishops accountable for their actions, a national day for Mass or prayers of reparation, and encouragement to parishioners to become more involved in their diocese are among steps suggested by prominent lay Catholics to right the U.S. church as it deals with a new clergy sexual abuse Read more
As we approach the end of the liturgical year, it’s appropriate that the church designates the last Sunday as the Solemnity of Christ the King; for it calls to mind the last day of history, when Christ the King of the universe will come in all his glory to judge the living and the dead. Read more