Recently, La Civiltà Cattolica published a transcript of the Holy Father’s conversation with the Jesuit community working in Romania. Pope Francis typically meets with the local Jesuits whenever he visits a country and the conversations really show the wisdom and the personality of this pope. For example, we know the first pope from Argentina likes Read more
Theological development comes through dialogue, Pope Francis said in a speech at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy in Naples. He also identified an aggressive defence of doctrine as unhelpful as it seeks to impose its beliefs on others. Fidelity to the Gospel “implies a style of life and of proclamation without a spirit Read more
Pope Francis highlighted the problem of bullying in a recent message to young people. Francis said bullying is an issue that concerns him. He made the comments to participants in the online conference #StopcyberbullyingDay. Francis called on participants to find their own identity but not at the expense of others. “An issue that concerns me Read more
There are many words to describe the state of the political discourse today—degraded and debased, vicious and vacuous. “Virtuous,” however, is not among them. There is virtue-signaling, to be sure, but turn on the news or log onto Twitter and you will undoubtedly find politicians and pundits engaged in verbal combat or thinly veiled self-congratulation. Read more
The relationship between Jews and Christians is the subject of a correction Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has published in theological magazine “Communio.” He was responding to a newspaper article alleging he favoured missionising the Jews and called Jewish-Christian dialogue into question. Benedict’s correction affirms Christians are called to a “dialogue” with the Jews rather than a 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
I once found great comfort in the black-and-white world of apologetics. The Catechism of the Catholic Church provided the answers to all of my questions concerning faith and morals. It was the definitive voice of the church, and I believed everything that voice said. And then my black-and-white world began to fall apart. Dysfunctional leadership Read more
Addressing the causes of crime and violence in the Great Suva area by could be assisted by the greater involvement of faith based communities. This was one of the solutions offered by participants in Fiji’s first ever discussion on crime and violence Members of faith-based organisations and NGOs gathered in Pacific Harbour in Serua On Read more
A new centre for dialogue between faith and reason, between Church and society is to be set up in Dublin, Ireland. The University of Notre Dame from the US will oversee the initiative at University Church, Dublin. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin announced the establishment of the “Notre-Dame Newman Centre for Faith and Reason”. Earlier Read more
The head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has said that a papal encyclical addressing the question of just war theory is possible. Cardinal Peter Turkson said proposals to drop the concept of just war were “legitimate”. He called for a “broad and deeply felt” debate on the question of just war theory. Read more