Analysis

Editor’s note: The following is from Monsignor William Smith’s Modern Moral Problems: Trustworthy Answers to Your Tough Questions (Ignatius Press, 2015). Monsignor Smith, who died in 2009, for many years wrote a regular column for […]

It seems that Cuba and Crete, two islands as remote from each other as can be, both geographically and culturally, have recently become connected by an invisible thread. One hosted a surprise meeting between Pope […]

Frankly, I don’t know how he does it. When I fly to Europe I have to sleep all the way over.  Not Pope Francis. Anyway, may I offer some comments on some topics mentioned in […]

As expected, the Department of External Church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate has started the process of spinning the February 12, 2016 Havana Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill. In a February 17 […]

The Monuments Men was a disappointing movie, but one of its most chilling scenes sticks in my mind as an analogue to the appalling wickedness underway in the Middle East. In the film, SS Colonel […]

Following the death of Justice Scalia, will the Supreme Court reverse what has been its recent record of protecting religious liberty? After its two gay-marriage decisions in the last three years, with their deepening implications […]

Pope Benedict XVI was, and is, known for playing the piano. Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, the chief architect of Friday’s Cuban summit between his boss Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis, is a published composer […]

Seven quick thoughts about the “Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia” (full text below). (1) I see that some commentators and other folks are making reference to “one […]

The first, historic meeting between a Pope and a Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church does not come from nowhere. Both the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate and the Holy See have been working on such an […]

I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the absurd reaction of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) to the lighthearted Super Bowl commercial produced to advertise Doritos. In the thirty-second clip, a pregnant mother, […]