John Norris’s new biography of Pulitzer prize-winning political journalist (and Commonweal Catholic) Mary McGrory is engaging, carefully researched, and sympathetic.
The horrors suffered by Christians in parts of the Middle East can’t be overlooked. But in Jordan, the historic coexistence of Islam and Christianity continues.
U.S. Paulist Fathers give moral prescription for Synod; Priest fired for announcing gay partnership reveals more in upcoming book; Families in Rome welcome migrants.
Stone’s characters were human, and humans screw up; there wasn’t much to do about that except to situate the culprits in clarifying narratives of moral scrutiny.
Readers write to petition for women writers, praise Luke Timothy Johnson’s essay on Thomas Merton, take issue with Andrew Bacevich, and clarify education goals.
Set in bombed-out Berlin of 1945, Petzold’s ‘Phoenix’ questions who was guilty, and of what, in the daily workings of the Holocaust—and will there be a reckoning?
Vatican announces who will and will not be attending round two of the Synod; Hungarian cardinal silent on refugee crisis; Heated debates over paving stones in Rome.
We should take in refugees because it’s the right thing to do, because it’s in keeping with who we say we are, and because we remain a nation that can afford it.
Set on present day Staten Island Eddie Joyce’s ‘Small Mercies’ traces the effect of 9/11 on the families of people living in “the servants’ quarters of New York.”
In Hebron I learned that the facts on the ground in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict tell a story Americans intent on “international diplomacy” don’t want to hear.
Readers write in about Catholics breeding like rabbits, writers using “man” to refer to “humanity,” the political tsunami in Scotland, and Jewish women cutting hair.
Opening our doors to Syrian refugees is the right thing to do and an acknowledgement of the responsibility the United States bears for the chaos in the Middle East.
Cuba has changed since the last papal visit. Part of the difference comes from the dramatic shift in the Cuban-U.S. relationship, which Francis helped bring about.
Narrated by the nameless victim’s brother, Kamal Daoud’s novel asks: Did Camus intend to use the Algerian murder victim in ‘The Stranger’ as a disposable prop?
Chen Guangcheng’s condemnation of the Chinese state is told through his story of legal activism, resulting torture, trial, house arrest, and an escape to the U.S.
The principal defense of Obama’s stewardship rests on the idea that his realism about what military power can and can’t achieve has recalibrated America’s approach.
Biographer Randy Boyagoda paints Richard John Neuhaus as an unusually ambitious and politically engaged priest as public intellectual—but is his narrative too tidy?
Italian bishops join Francis in strongly denouncing European handling of migrant crisis; Are opponents of Cardinal Kasper’s proposal releasing yet another book?
We are definitely in for another “Second Coming” revival, and Donald Trump is the least of it. The center is under siege all over the democratic world.
In the short run, Obama simply has to win enough votes for his Iran deal. For the long run, he has to persuade Americans that diplomacy is a safer path than war.
Greece may be better off outside the eurozone: Austerity policies have generated a catastrophic collapse of GDP, a worsening of unemployment, and bank shutdowns.
The deal struck by the United States and its partners with Iran to dismantle that nation’s capacity to build a nuclear weapon looks like a remarkable achievement.
Bolivia’s gift to Francis of a hammer-and-sickle crucifix implied its artist was a secret Marxist. I was disconcerted: This was not at all the Luis Espinal I knew.
Who sits with Francis in the papal plane; How Benedict contrasts with history’s other pope emeritus; Why one Italian mayor is mad the pope won’t take a vacation.
Whether or not U.S. support for LGBT rights goes beyond the rhetorical, societies still viewing themselves as “under God” will bridle at this sudden turn about.
As Francis plans to overhaul the Holy See’s media management, a bishop-psychotherapist is assigned to help remove “playboy priests” from an infamous Italian diocese.
Amusing and engaging, Barney Frank’s stories (from sixteen terms in Congress) tell what kinds of “inside politicking” informed the presidencies of LBJ through Obama.
Readers continue the conversation on the morality of contraception in 2015 and how Europe is handling its two most important crises and America its defunct railways.
Synod officials released an “underwhelming” working document for October’s assembly while Italian Catholics gathered to protest gay marriage and gender theory.
Emerging from the perfect storm of the British general election of 2015, few experts felt able to offer a convincing analysis. Here are some possible explanations.
The countryside is the bedrock of Chinese traditions and of Chinese Catholicism. But urbanization and government pressure are threats to these enduring communities.
Francis’s week: talking church reform with cardinals and peace with Vladimir Putin. And saints’ bodies are en route to Rome. Is Francis reviving medieval devotions?
Marx derided religion as an opiate destined to fade away but ultra-orthodoxy is on the rise. What happened to make faith one of the most dynamic forces in the world?
A preview of upcoming papal visits at home, abroad and with Italian protestants. And the press turns Francis’s list of “attacks on life” into an abortion debate.
It is a mark of how much has changed so quickly that Ireland’s vote for gay marriage was the expected outcome, even if the breadth of that outcome was breathtaking.
