Process, papacy, and accompaniment: It may not be too early to wonder how Pope Francis's handling of the Synod on the Family fared on these three considerations.
Francis has introduced the possibility that the spotlight of moral judgment can can be shone back on those who make the judgments, and on their very act of judging.
Francis to ordain bishop at the Lateran, not the Vatican; Two new books based on Vatican-insider leaks to be published this week; The Dominicans turn 800 years old
Judas takes hold of Christ, pressing himself on him: arm, beard, lips. A soldier in gleaming armor goes for Christ’s neck. A young man flees: John the Evangelist.
Engagement rather than denunciation marked the synod’s formal pronouncements, a pastoral style deeply rooted in Vatican II, and embodied in everything Francis does.
As a result of a recent vogue for feeling culturally embattled, the word “Christian” now is seen less as identifying an ethic, and more as identifying a demographic.
Synod Fathers prepare to vote on final document; Pope reminds bishops of Vatican-II hope for episcopal collegiality; More "servant-leader" pastors appointed bishops
While several cardinals in his own curia voice opposition, Pope Francis apologizes to church for "scandals that have occurred recently both in Rome and the Vatican."
Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics was debated, and dismissed, at Vatican II. Fifty years later, the debate continues, but with a difference.
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.
After news of secret visit with Kim Davis, could the affection that Pope Francis generated with his visit to the United States last week vanish in a cloud of smoke?
Are Catholics still obligated “under pain of mortal sin” to follow what the church teaches? It seems nowadays most believers prefer to focus on grace and Eucharist.
The bishops and the church as a whole are about to take an honest look at the gap between that which cannot be changed and that which can and sometimes ought to be.
Preachers have told stories in a variety of ways over the centuries. But preaching in the U.S. has seen a shift from typology to illustration as the prevailing mode.
Adult baptism in the United States fell 43 percent between 2005 and 2013. Does it suggest a stagnation of our collective imagination about baptism itself?
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.
For Jon D. Levenson, the main form that the love of God in Judaism takes—and, by extension, the form that mature adult love ought to take—is covenantal love.
The strangeness of Freeman’s title commands attention; Kaplan constructs a microhistory of religious conflict; Lipton presents a learned study; Manseau on diversity.
Does Montaigne resemble the contemporary essayist who writes about faith? The short answer is that he does not—at least not in easily recognizable ways.
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.
Francis's encyclical contains a fundamental lesson: We are not the source of meaning or value; if we believe we are, we exchange the real world for a virtual one.
Vatican announces who will and will not be attending round two of the Synod; Hungarian cardinal silent on refugee crisis; Heated debates over paving stones in Rome.
According to Catholic discipline, there is only one kind of person who can offer anointing of the sick: a priest. But there aren’t enough priests to go around.
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.
At the Fifth Station of the Cross / I am asked to “accept in particular / the death that is destined for me” / Which I must keep myself from guessing...
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.
One of Merton’s gifts as a writer was the ability to insinuate himself into the lives of those he'd never met and remain a personal presence decades after his death.
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
When the priest said “The Mass is ended, alleluia,” she burst out laughing. As a guest at Mass, she sensed the beauty of Catholic worship, and also its strangeness.
Following the Orthodox Church, Francis announces World Day of Prayer's theme; U.S. Bishops don't. Why is Francis silent about mob's "Godfather-like" funeral in Rome?
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.
