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.
Pope sows "confusion" by inviting Muslims take part in upcoming Jubilee Year, giving a Eucharistic chalice to a Lutheran pastor, and remaining the Bishop of Rome.
Pope Francis to everyone: reread Evangelii Gaudium; to bishops: be pastors, nothing more; to St. Peter's square audience: I need your help in reforming the church.
John Henry Newman once said of the laity that the church would look foolish without them, and from the beginning the synod did indeed look foolish without us.
Paul Ryan has always wanted to be several things at once, which makes for a hard balancing act. He knows his faith teaches compassion, but he's also an ideologue.
Synod Fathers prepare to vote on final document; Pope reminds bishops of Vatican-II hope for episcopal collegiality; More "servant-leader" pastors appointed bishops
John Norris's new biography of Pulitzer prize-winning political journalist (and Commonweal Catholic) Mary McGrory is engaging, carefully researched, and sympathetic.
In "Christian Human Rights," Samuel Moyn concedes that the modern human-rights movement is untethered from its Christian origins. Is this something to worry about?
Readers offer a remedy for the church's "unction dysfunction," another disturbing aspect of the Supreme Court's lethal-injection ruling, and more on James Agee.
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.
Peter Mitchell's take on Charles Curran and the "dissident theologian" strike at Catholic University in 1967 presents a conspiracy so big it's literally incredible.
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.
Why has there never been a culture of accountability in the American university? James Keenan, SJ believes the teachers of ethics should practice what they preach.
In this collection of essays, authors draw on “Theology of the Body" to present the Church as a place where women’s leadership can flourish. The results are mixed.
The departure of Scott Walker from the presidential campaign should come as a relief to American working people. But the hostility toward labor he embodied remains.
As important as hearing Francis’s words will be paying close attention to whom he chooses to visit while he’s here. In his value system, the last really are first.
The result of her years-long quest to find fellow victims of smear campaigns, Dreger's 'Galileo's Middle Finger' reveals a problem larger than political correctness.
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."
When stories of minors being lured into the sex industry surfaced in Las Vegas, Nevadans for the Common Good decided to investigate. They knew there would be risks.
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.
The run-up to Labor Day brought news on the actions of the National Labor Relations Board and other government agencies to strengthen the rights of workers.
The Vatican killed all interest in World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, but Francis let that go to outflank various groups that oppose his other initiatives
Frank Bruni challenges elitist assumptions about what "counts" as a worthy education, and Fareed Zakaria defends the usefulness and versatility of the liberal arts.
Francis took a stalled case, dispensed with the need for a second miracle, and made Serra the first Hispanic saint in the United States. That has some people angry.
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.
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?
Traditionalists grumble Francis is stacking the Synod assembly with "lefties"; 2016 World Day of Peace theme is announced, along with a long list of global issues.
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.
