Francis said though it's impossible to “cancel out” faults of the past, this should not “continue to contaminate” relations with various other Christian communities.
Engagement with vexing questions is part of the life of a pilgrim church. It is strangely un-Catholic to assert that doctrine does not and cannot change.
In Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, traditionalists disagree with Pope Francis's “polyhedron ecumenism”; In the U.S. they highlight the faults of married deacons.
Pope Francis kicked off the Jubilee Year of Mercy with the opening of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s. I started my observance with a brilliant black comedy from HBO.
The air raids of May 1941 stand out in the memory because they were so ferocious. The norm—insofar as there was a norm—fell into a more predictable quasi-routine.
Like St. Gregory, Bishop Djomo of the Congo is committed to building unity among his own local people—and he lives in a world lacking effective public services.
Readers weight in on the debate started by Albert B. Hakim on universal salvation and damnation for the unjust, and fact-check our review of 'Spotlight.'
Pope Francis commissions specially selected "Missionaries of Mercy" for Holy Year while record numbers of Italian Catholics are seeking "annulments" of their baptism
In 2016 Francis will be focusing more on calling to the episcopacy and promoting to the cardinalate men who have the charism and willingness to be pastoral bishops.
The concept of the rule of law helps provide a broader framework that makes sense of the critics and the defenders of the prolife movement after Colorado Springs.
At the end of his address to the Roman Curia, Pope Francis quietly invoked the memory of one of the most important reform-minded bishops in the United States.
"Metaphysics." The word unexpectedly provided me with new reflections on the deepest meaning of the birth of Jesus and the Incarnation—the seen and the unseen.
For observant Jews, the couple is the unit of participation in a community; a single person is an extra digit, a misfit. Observant Jews divorce only when desperate.
I’d ask a favor from these candidates: Please stop saying how Christian you are unless you show a few signs of understanding the social obligations the word imposes.
When we visited Frigolet last year, we asked Joël what makes for a vital religious community. “New men,” he replied. Not money, not administrative acumen, but men.
Vatican confirms details of Francis's trip to Mexico; Francesca Chaouqui claims some cardinals want the pope dead; and globalization brings Christmas trees to Rome.
Donald's Trump’s call for a religious test for entry to our country has arisen from the ongoing exploitation of anti-Muslim feeling for political purposes.
Pope Francis opened the Jubilee Year of Mercy heralding "mercy before judgment" in the spirit of Vatican II. But did the liturgy symbolically contradict the message?
Almost without exception, students respond favorably to René Girard’s work. In some cases, the encounter with Girard changes their lives--as it has changed mine.
The importance of loving care for persons near the end of life is fundamental in Catholic teaching. But we've embraced a version of love without that obligation.
John’s gospel is not a story about shepherds and angels. And for that reason, though it's the assigned reading for Mass on Christmas day, most people won't hear it.
The church historically has not been kind to the idea of universal salvation. But there have always been theologians who dared to hope that hell would remain empty.
Vatican translators edit piety into pope's speeches; Francis plans 'twelve big gestures to demonstrate God’s mercy' for Jubilee Year; More on 'Vatileaks II' scandal.
Catholic teaching emphasizes the obligation of nations to help the stranger in need. It is neither statesman-like nor Christian to close the door on Syrian refugees.
What Pope Francis is doing during his first trip to Africa, despite security threats; who among the cardinals thinks the pope is "wobbly" on church teaching, again.
Current students are taught by lay people. Our teachers were Benedictine monks, and teaching only begins to describe the role those virtuous men played in our lives.
Selected articles, interviews, and video from our coverage of the Synod on the Family—and the continuing dialogue about sex, marriage, and Catholic family life.
