There is no question that “mercy” is one of the guiding leitmotifs of Francis’s pontificate. And last week, he emphasized there is no sin that cannot be forgiven.
Francis is marking the second anniversary of his pontificate, and if anyone still has doubts about his views on the post-Vatican II Mass, they should doubt no more.
Can the church promote NFP without condemning other forms of contraception as “intrinsically evil”? The blanket condemnation is what most Catholics find implausible.
Studies of NFP techniques like the Creighton Method indicate that they are at least as effective as condoms or pills. So why aren’t more Catholics giving it a try?
Readers expecting a tour de force of church history shouldn't. The question for Wills is this: Why do we need the church or Pope Francis to remind us of God’s love?
There was no personal greeting from Pope Francis during a recent visit by New Ways LGBT pilgrims to Rome; the Vatican did not even properly acknowledge them.
When Paul VI celebrated the liturgy in Italian, it was a pledge to future generations that the church and her liturgy would lean toward outreach and mission.
Seminaries have four to five years of post-college priestly formation to train men to be leaders of the small “corporations” that parishes have become.
Pope Francis has taken steps to bolster synodality and wean the universal Church from its unhealthy obsession with Vatican centralization. How has he done it?
Even several days before consigning the old year to the annals of Vatican history, Pope Francis indicated the new year was likely to be full of surprises.
If people paid attention to what Francis says – including bishops and cardinals, even retired – they would not be confused about where he wants to move the church.
After eleven weeks, the prefect’s chair at the CDW remains without a head. For a major Curia office to be vacant so long is unprecedented in contemporary history.
November 16, 1414, saw the opening at Constance of a general council of the Latin Church, an event of great and historic significance. Will we hear much about it?
Those hostile to Pope Francis and how he’s governing the Vatican and church have affixed the bull’s eye on the backs of a number of people close to him.
Reading a new letter from the Vatican, one might think the sign of peace is floundering in the church today. In fact, it's one of the most successful rites we have.
Francis’s view of “domination" as an impediment to virtuous fellowship in society represents concern with unjust relations of many forms, not merely economic ones.
The synod comes at a time when a huge gulf has opened up between the teaching of the church on sex, marriage, and the family and the practice of many Catholics.
The Second Vatican Council isn’t over yet, in the view of Robert P. Imbelli, who notes that the “reception,” and thus the event of the council, is continuing today.
It's not the case that Francis has little interest in theological exchanges. Rather, interreligious friendships are more the basis for dialogue than its by-product.
Francis’s new language and style have not been universally welcomed by the bishops, especially those in Italy, where the old guard seems especially recalcitrant.
John XXIII had a program of updating; John Paul II was seen as bringing a degree of Restoration. How do their two very different legacies relate to each other?
Any discussion of the relationship between celibacy and priesthood needs to distinguish between three different “logics” that have governed the practice of celibacy.
The transcript of the editors’ conversation with the pope has been translated from the original Italian into Latin, then English, then back into Italian ...
Are we likely to hear from Catholic women who believe responsible use of birth control is compatible with their faith and their vocations as wives any time soon?
