Pope Francis has returned from touring Hungary, a bastion of European conservatism, where his mixed messaging is seemingly at odds with national sentiment. At a Mass celebrated Sunday in Budapest, His Holiness called on the Hungarian government — led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President Katalin Novák, both Christian, neither Catholic — to loosen Read more
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life is preparing a document that will address divorced and remarried couples at the request of Pope Francis, according to the dicastery’s prefect, Cardinal Kevin Farrell. Farrell mentioned the in-progress document in a speech delivered in Italian on April 22 that opened a meeting of the dicastery, Read more
Ahead of a Vatican conference, several church officials have emphasised the importance of empowering laypeople without “clericalising” them. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, spoke of “co-responsibility” between clergy and laity, saying, “It does not mean that the laity in the church have to become clerics, and clerics Read more
Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix of Quebec has stated that pastors should help their people grow in a relationship with Jesus as shepherds, not be their bosses. Lacroix was speaking at a press conference previewing a three-day Vatican meeting on how to improve collaboration among laypeople, priests and bishops. Lacroix wants priests to recognise that laypeople Read more
The Catholic Church has always been very good at baptising, marrying and burying people. Those who avail themselves of the liturgies that celebrate and solemnise these key moments of our Christian existence are often called cradle-to-grave Catholics. And if you believe the Vatican’s statistical office, we are growing in number. Its latest figures claim that Read more
It’s a message young people in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hear early and often: You should get married because marriage is wonderful and family life is at the heart of the faith. The problem is that church leaders haven’t grasped the power of cultural trends in technology, education and economics that Read more
For decades, viewers have enjoyed the Japanese reality TV series “Old Enough!” in which preschool children venture into the streets alone to run errands for their parents. What if American women asked their live-in boyfriends to stop playing video games, leave their couches and run errands? In the “Saturday Night Live” sketch “Old Enough! Longterm Read more
I spent the early months of the coronavirus pandemic feeling desperately claustrophobic. Quarantined in a one-bedroom apartment in New York, I would sometimes imagine my fire escape was a creaky porch in the woods somewhere as I sat outside in the early evenings, listening to my neighbours’ cheer and bang pots for the essential workers Read more
As Millennials reach a new stage of life – the oldest among them will turn 39 this year – a clearer picture of how members of this generation are establishing their own families is coming into view. Previous research highlights not only the sheer size of the Millennial generation, which now surpasses Baby Boomers as Read more
Millennials don’t value patriotism, family and religion as passionately as previous generations, according to a new survey. “The values that Americans say define the national character are changing, as younger generations rate patriotism, religion and having children as less important to them than did young people two decades ago,” Wall Street Journal reporter Chad Day Read more