Here’s where most-first time visitors to Rome get it wrong: they head straight for St Peter’s Cathedral. St Peter’s is a magnificent building, containing superb works of art; however its size – not to mention the size of the crowds – can be so overwhelming, visitors don’t set foot in another church for the rest Read more
Charged by Cardinal Francis George with the vague task of “jump-starting evangelism” in Chicago’s archdiocese nearly a decade ago, the Rev. Robert Barron accepted the mantle with gusto — and in the process, became one of the country’s best-known priests. This year, his Word on Fire ministry plans to complete the first six episodes of Read more
Definition of traditionalist: Noun. A person who believes that all knowledge originates in divine revelation and is perpetuated by tradition. Definition of fundamentalist: Noun. A person who believes in the strict, literal interpretation of scripture in a religion. A person who adheres strictly to the basic principles of any subject or discipline. Christ said “Do Read more
“Teach your children that it is not possible to be Christian outside the Church, and it is not possible to follow Christ outside the Church, as the Church is our mother, and lets us grow in the love of Jesus Christ” (Pope Francis, 11 January 2015). It must then follow that the Catholic Church is the true Read more
Immediately after his election on 13 March 2013, Pope Francis told himself, “Jorge, do not change, continue being yourself, because to change at your age would be ridiculous.” He revealed this interesting personal detail in a wide-ranging 50 minute, exclusive interview with Elisabetta Piquè, for La Nacion, the main Argentine newspaper, published today, December 7 Read more
Pope Francis faces a tough road ahead, a veteran Vatican watcher told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Wednesday. “It’s a very tough period that is beginning for him, because of course people [are] enthusiastic about him. “I mean the believers but also non-believers are very interested in what he’s saying. “But within Read more
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Consecrated Life, I am writing to you as the Successor of Peter, to whom the Lord entrusted the task of confirming his brothers and sisters in faith (cf. Lk 22:32). But I am also writing to you as a brother who, like yourselves, is consecrated to God. Together let us Read more
Last Friday morning, as I waited with my wife to greet Pope Francis after the 7 am Mass he says each day at the Santa Marta guesthouse, the strangeness of it all hit me. I was presenting a biography of the Pope to the Pope, and it had the bold title of The Great Reformer. Read more
Bad religion. There’s a lot of it around still, though I am convinced there’s less of it (at least of the Christian variety) than there has been in the past. Even so, desperately bad religion dominates the daily paper, from Islamic fundamentalists filming grizzly decapitations, to the Catholic powers that be still trying to cover Read more
Latin America is home to more than 425 million Catholics – nearly 40% of the world’s total Catholic population – and the Roman Catholic Church now has a Latin American pope for the first time in its history. Yet identification with Catholicism has declined throughout the region, according to a major new Pew Research Center Read more