Any who claim Francis is ignoring the Catholic past and inventing radical new doctrines has to reckon with the care he takes in paying homage to his predecessors.
Can Cardinal Pell – or any Catholic – simply ignore the new encyclical or the parts they don’t like? Many have done so before, not least concerning Humanae Vitae.
The countryside is the bedrock of Chinese traditions and of Chinese Catholicism. But urbanization and government pressure are threats to these enduring communities.
What Beau Biden's funeral brought home is that the feelings nearly all of us -- left, right, and center -- have about family bonds transcend day-to-day arguments.
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.
Many people in the West who do not share Christian faith nonetheless share with Christians many of the key ethical values that energize democratic political life.
Cardinal Parolin calls Ireland's gay marriage victory a "defeat for humanity"; progressives and traditionalists hold secret meetings to discuss Synod on the Family.
Do Catholic institutions actually convey an education in humanistic culture—or in prophetic culture, for that matter? Do they do this in the classroom? Or elsewhere?
Oscar Romero will be declared a martyr, Francis tells bishops to stop "trying to tell Catholics what to do all the time," and cardinals deny the pope has enemies.
Unlike past Eurocentric taxonomies of world religions, the latest Norton anthology aims to let six major, living, international religions speak...in their own words.
The starting point for the unraveling of Catholic confidence in the church’s sexual ethics is contraception. Shouldn't the next synod finally meet the issue head-on?
What implicates morality more than how we as a society and individuals treat those who are cut off from the ladders of advancement and the treasures of prosperity?
Argentine Archbishop predicts "the people of God" will support Francis's changes long after he's dead—and traditionalists cry schism while non-Catholics convert.
The award-winning author of the story collection 'Night at the Fiestas' talks about her influences, the importance of empathy in fiction, and washing altar cloths.
Tight-lipped officials reveal details of Jubilee year. Serra's canonization is almost complete. And for the first time, a woman bishop visits the Apostolic Palace.
When we affirm that Jesus is true God of true God, that must be understood absolutely. When we affirm Jesus is true man, that too must be understood absolutely.
At a gathering of the Secular Coalition for America, the Delaware Democrat spoke on his own faith as well as the need to respect those who choose not to believe.
Catholic opinion on climate change matches the American political spectrum, and thus the polemics around this polarizing issue are Catholic polemics as well
Is humanity better or worse off believing in the sacred? Kitcher has not provided new reasons for declaring the death of God, but he certainly makes it seem foolish.
