This weekend, Pope Francis published a series of tweets that linked environmental and social crises. This connection embodies the “integral ecology” that is a refrain of his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’.” The publication of “Laudato Si’” was a landmark moment in the fight against climate change. Secular environmentalists were encouraged to see such a prominent global Read more
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently approved drafting a document on receiving Holy Communion in the Catholic Church. It will include a section regarding standards for politicians and public figures who support laws allowing abortion, euthanasia and other “moral evils.” The proposed document has already caused controversy. The Vatican has warned against exclusively Read more
Pope Francis has not commented about America’s Catholic bishops’ vote to deny US President Joe Biden Holy Communion because of Biden’s political support for abortion. The US bishops are drafting new guidance on the abortion-communion issue, which they expect to release in November. Their decision to vote about this matter flouts a letter from the Read more
An immigrant from Mexico is the new president of the American Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gómez, 67, was the conference’s vice president, and in line with tradition where the vice president is elected president, there was little surprise when on Wednesday, he was elected on the first ballot. When the results were Read more
US Catholic Bishops’ Conference head, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, has had his office raided by prosecutors investigating a sexual abuse case. The accused priest is from the Houston archdiocese which DiNardo leads. DiNardo is also heading the Church’s response to sexual misconduct in the US. The intensifying investigation has raised questions about how DiNardo and his Read more
While America’s Catholic bishops are promoting a “Fortnight of Freedom” to combat Democrat President Barack Obama’s health insurance mandates, a group of nuns are on a multi-state bus tour to oppose Republican budget-cut policies. The “Nuns on the Bus” are focusing on budget cuts proposed by House of Representatives budget committee chair Paul Ryan, a Read more
Religious leaders have long been powerful in US elections, but this year something new is happening. Leading members of the American Catholic clergy have escalated their conflict with the Obama administration, most notably in the new “religious liberty’’ campaign launched by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The slogan picks up on a long-standing evangelical Read more
After the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine had delivered its criticism of Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God by St. Joseph Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, theologians and boards of theological societies in the United States contested the content of the criticism and protested the manner of its formulation (NCR, Read more