ROME – True old-timers in the Vatican press corps still love to reminisce about how much fun it was covering the Second Vatican Council, a gathering of the world’s Catholic bishops from 1962 to 1965 that launched the Church on a course of modernisation and reform. It was a gripping story, filled with colorful characters. Read more
Science and religion have often appeared at loggerheads, but Papal astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno says there is no need for conflict. Brother Consolmagno said while literal readings of the Bible suggested the world was young, the perpetration of that belief, despite the scientific evidence to the contrary, was simply “bad theology”. “It’s almost blasphemous theology,” Read more
On Sunday, Pope Francis convenes a special type of meeting of bishops — one held only two other times — meant to start a frank debate about the church’s teachings and practices with which Catholics seem to most disagree, struggle with and ignore: family, marriage and sexuality. The Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Read more
Driving into the city, I passed a billboard advertising a programme for ‘Returning Catholics’. I was instantly dismayed by the term and related monikers – inactive Catholics, lapsed Catholics, resting Catholics, non-practising Catholics – there are probably many more. The labels are judgmental. They point the accusing finger: ‘You have failed.” “You are remiss.” “You Read more
Once I believed that when you found faith, it rarely wavered. Then I learned that even saints had massive doubts about God. How reassuring. If even the holiest of the holy had second thoughts, why not me? Maybe we Catholics should talk more about doubt. It actually is an intrinsic part of the pilgrimage, a Read more
In bureaucracies everywhere, when someone’s interests are threatened by a cycle of reform, one time-honoured resistance strategy is to dig up dirt on the reformers. For maximum effectiveness, the dirt should be related to a brewing crisis in which people are tempted to shoot first and ask questions later. Whatever its supernatural claims may be, Read more
The full text of the Holy Father’s Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2015 was published on 23 September: Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus is ‘the evangeliser par excellence and the Gospel in person’. His solicitude, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalised, invites all of us to care for the frailest and Read more
Within the last year, the Catholic Church has garnered a bounty of something it hasn’t seen in decades: positive attention. The man responsible for the change in the Church’s public reputation is Pope Francis, a candid Jesuit who seems a world away from his traditionalist predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. His effect on the Church seems Read more
“The privileged place for an encounter with Christ are our sins,” Pope Francis said at yesterday’s morning mass in St. Martha’s House. “It is the power of God’s Word that brings about a true change of heart.” The “encounter between [our] sins and the blood of Christ is the only salvific encounter there is.” The Read more
The blood of martyrs has proven to be the seed of the Church in China, as vibrant communities thrive despite government interference and restrictions. “We should be glad and rejoice. “As the Shanghai Catholic youths said: ‘We are greatly honored to have been born and lived at this important time.’” — Cardinal Kung Pin-mei, Sermon Read more