Among the anti-communist propaganda that spread through Italy in the early years after World War II was the threat that the Cossacks would soon be watering their horses in the fountains of St Peter’s Square. It was a time when some feared for the Church’s survival. But back then, the Vatican enjoyed religious, moral, cultural Read more
The upcoming plenary meeting of the USCCB comes as the Catholic Church is on its way to being, in some ways, a “post-episcopal” Church—no longer a bishops’ Church. That will likely have a dramatic impact on how Catholicism may influence and interact with American social and political values. The situation arises from the precipitous drop Read more
These days, Catholic intellectuals open the op-ed pages of the New York Times with the same dread they once had for the threatening, unsigned editorials of the official newspaper of the Vatican, L’Osservatore Romano. Except that we’re not talking about condemnations emanating from the pope. Instead, the condemnations found in world beacon of the liberal Read more
The two-day meeting of all the world’s cardinals, which Pope Francis held on August 29-30, was something truly extraordinary for this pontificate — and not just because it was held, contrary to custom, in the sweltering heat of the late Roman summer. This was only the second time that Francis has convened the entire College Read more
In the history of the papacy, Benedict XVI marks a caesura or a break, something quite ironic, given the fact that many traditionalist Catholics identify his pontificate with the “hermeneutics of continuity”. This caesura is not only tied to his decision in 2013 to voluntarily resign the papal office but even more so to the Read more
Throughout history, there have been Church debates — either locally or with the powers at the Vatican — that have had far-reaching and long-term consequences on the lived and intellectual history of Catholicism. One of them, for instance, was the “Chinese rites” controversy in the 17thand 18thcenturies. This would influence the way the Church approached Read more
The worldwide Catholic Church has now officially embarked on the “synodal process 2021-2023”. Pope Francis launched the project at the Vatican on October 10 with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and bishops around the globe (though not all of them) inaugurated the process at the diocesan level the following Sunday with celebrations in their Read more
Pope Francis knows how to cause a stir with his statements. But even when the current Bishop of Rome says things that should not be newsworthy, they are objectively relevant in the context of the embattled Catholic Church of today. One example: the pope recently said that the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) shaped his theological Read more
The Synod of Bishops’ secretariat has published and presented to the press the “Preparatory document” and “Vademecum” for the synodal process of 2021-2023 that Pope Francis has called for the universal Church. It is perhaps the most audacious project of his pontificate. The official launch of the synodal process will take place October 9-10 in Read more
“There’s a short path that is long, and a long path that is short”. In the third seasons of the Netflix series “Shtisel,” an eminent ultra-Orthodox rabbi who heads a yeshiva in Jerusalem offers that bit of sage advice to a star student who is dealing with a life-and-death decision. Short paths tend to become Read more