Transcript from Rita Cassella Jones Lecture at Fordham of September 17, 2024. As you know, I belonged to the initial Pontifical Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women. We were named in August 2016 and first met in November of that year. I traveled to Rome several days in advance of the scheduled Read more
Most of us have grown up in a highly centralised European “Catholic” Church, and so we feel uncomfortable with many of the changes being promoted by Pope Francis. After his visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore last month, Francis was heard to remark that “some people are still too Eurocentric” when they Read more
As the last session of the Synod on Synodality continues its second week, an interview published on Tuesday gives more insight on Pope Francis’s vision of the role of synodality in the Church today. It highlights some of the inherent tensions between the use of synods and the power of the papacy in modern Catholicism. Read more
Pope Francis has called for unity among Christians, urging reconciliation between Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants while reflecting on the centuries-old “Filioque” dispute that has divided Western and Eastern Christians. During his general audience on 16 October, Pope Francis focused on the Nicene Creed, recited by Catholics during Mass. He reflected on the addition of the Read more
One year ago, the longest and deadliest war between Israelis and Arabs since 1948 began, having profound effects on the Catholic Church. Pope Francis marked the anniversary of the beginning of the war in Israel after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack by calling a day of prayer and fasting for peace. On October 6, Read more
Young Catholics want the Latin Mass back. So on 5 October they took to the streets in Washington DC calling for Pope Francis to restore the Latin Mass. Scores of protesters joined the 11-kilometre “National Summorum Pontificum” march – so dubbed in honour of Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic letter about celebrating the Latin Mass. Read more
Is the Synod on Synodality the most important moment for the Church since the Second Vatican Council, as one high-ranking Vatican source believes? I’d love to tell you I know exactly what was in front of me October 2 at its reopening in the late afternoon, but that wouldn’t be accurate. For now, this synod Read more
In my last blog, I reported on the enthusiasm that filled me and many other synod participants during the retreat days. The enthusiasm gave way to a certain disillusionment after two more days. That was to be expected. But the fact that it would happen so quickly and that this “sobering up process” even began Read more
During his visit to Belgium, Pope Francis was warmly received September 28 at the University of Louvain, which was celebrating its 600th anniversary. And yet, the event left a bitter aftertaste. Confronted by a group of students and faculty over “the invisibility of women” in his encyclical Laudato si’, “Christian ecofeminism,” and the role of Read more
Perhaps it is in the very nature of the Synod on Synodality to take steps back after having taken several steps forward. But the tone of the opening days of the synod’s final general assembly makes it apparent that, for the moment, there is no talk of revolution within the Church. That tone was set Read more