During this weekend's mass, Pope Francis canonized four women religious, two of whom were from the historical territory of Palestine.

Not long after the Vatican’s announcement that it would sign a treaty recognizing the state of Palestine, some outlets are reporting the Pope’s words to Mahmoud Abbas were “You are a man of peace,” though the Vatican Insider quotes him as saying “May you be a man of peace.”

 

What’s happened to cosmology? Aeon has an essay on how the field may be stalled (those readers may want to quibble with the author’s treatment of Christian history).
 

Today, President Obama will announce a ban and tighter restrictions on federal funding of military-style police equipment like armored Humvees and explosives. 
Back in 2011, The Atlantic looked at the history of how the police began to be armed this way after 9/11. 

Whether or not you’re interested in the sport of boxing, Kelefa Sanneh’s story on Floyd Mayweather is fascinating. “What should we do with athletes like Mayweather, who commit particularly disturbing crimes?” 

Maria Bowler is the former assistant digital editor of Commonweal. 

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