Despite Pope Francis’ initial plans, his visit to Poland for World Youth Day has been complemented by a pastoral visit to the country, including a meeting with the Polish government and president and a Mass […]
Defying predictions of what some anticipated as an “implosion” of the Society of Jesus in America just a few years ago, the Jesuits recently announced the ordination of 20 new Jesuit priests in the US, […]
In the 1960s, Popes John XXIII and Paul VI initiated a new Vatican approach to the countries behind the iron curtain, the Ostpolitik. According to its chief architect and agent, Archbishop Agostino Casaroli, its strategic […]
When Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first President of Turkey (1923-38), abolished the sultanate and caliphate following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, did he imagine that the military he left behind would have to intervene […]
Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt was recently decided 5-3 by the U.S. Supreme Court. It struck down the Texas legislature’s regulations requiring abortion clinics to meet the same standards as any other Texas ambulatory surgical […]
The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church recently concluded its sessions in Crete. I am not aware of any other international or ecclesial forum that was ever in preparation for as long as […]
When Pope Francis travels to Poland to celebrate World Youth Day and visit the shrine at Jasna Góra, he will encounter one of the world’s most intact and vibrant Catholic cultures, up there with Mexico, […]
It’s difficult for most non-Europeans to grasp the scale of the devastation that overtook Europe twice in the twentieth century. Having descended into the abyss between 1914 and 1918, European nations were at it again […]
The pope’s most recent comments on marriage point in a disturbing direction but let’s address two important matters first. Point One. Cohabitation is not marriage. Largely overlooked amid the furor caused by Pope Francis’ rash claim that […]
Canon 868 § 1, n. 2, recognizing the gravity of the obligations that come with baptism and not wishing to see those obligations too-lightly assumed, states: “For an infant to be baptized licitly … there […]
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