I haven’t written in this space for some time, but now that the election is over some additional interventions seem necessary to capture what’s happening in Roman Catholicism’s remarkable period of controversy. My Sunday column talked a bit about the way in which varying interpretations of “Amoris Laetitia,” Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation on the family, have Read more
By now it should be clear. Pope Francis really believes there is a serious lack of quality among priests and bishops in the Catholic church. Otherwise, he would not talk so often about the negative traits of certain men in ordained ministry, as he’s done again several times in recent days. “The world is tired Read more
That the Catholic Church needs a better way to select Bishops is a sentiment that every Catholic, I think, could agree with. It is the headline of an article by Robert Mickens in the National Catholic Reporter, which is worth reading for the way it summarises the Pope’s recurring harsh words about bad bishops. The Read more
Reform never happens all at once, and, frankly, at the level of details it’s often boring as hell. Statutes for a new communications department approved by Pope Francis and released Thursday don’t exactly make gripping reading, but they suggest that reform is becoming irreversible. Here’s the thing about important historical reforms: They almost never happen Read more
A Facebook reminder from 2008 popped up in my husband’s newsfeed last week. It was a photo from World Youth Day in Sydney. He sent me the link with a note, “Hard to believe that this was just eight years ago.” Just eight years ago, Australia’s Cardinal George Pell walked the streets of Sydney unencumbered, Read more
The Catholic priest coordinating the inter-religious center for athletes at the Olympic Village is looking forward to “very successful spiritual mission”. “We hope that the center will encourage harmony and unity among different countries and among different religions,” the coordinator Father Leandro Lenin Tavares says. “We are a symbol of peace, brotherhood and the unity Read more
In a show of solidarity with their Catholic neighbours, Muslims all over France attended Mass on Sunday, five days after a murderous claimed attack on a Catholic priest in Normandy. France’s Muslim council, the CFCM, urged Muslims to show “solidarity and compassion” over Father Jacques Hamel’s murder. “We are all Catholics of France,” said Anouar Read more
Have young French people reconciled with God? In any event, unlike their elders, they are at least no longer hostile to religion. The portrait of the 18-30 age group that emerges from the exclusive survey on youth and religion carried out by OpinionWay for La Croix reveals a generation that is discernibly more religious than Read more
Two minutes and thirty seconds is all it took for Sean Bryan to complete the Los Angeles qualifier round of American Ninja Warrior. On Bryan’s bright-yellow shirt was written: “Papal Ninja.” “I thought, ‘How could I be a bit more explicit about my faith?’” Bryan told CNA, “because it is quite explicit in my life.” Read more
Judges in Belgium have fined a Catholic nursing home for refusing to allow the euthanasia of a lung cancer sufferer on its premises. The St Augustine rest home in Diest was ordered to pay a total of €6,000. This was after it stopped doctors from giving a lethal injection to Mariette Buntjens. Days later, the Read more