Recent Editorial

“Tone at the Top” and the abuse of power in the Catholic Church

Feb 24, 2023

A few months ago, a book with an eloquent title was published: Heillose Macht — literally, “Power empty of salvation.” Many priests and laypersons, both Church employees and volunteers, relate here the abuse of power that they have personally suffered in the Catholic Church, which they have experienced “as a place of despotism and humiliation”.
Pope Francis is the world’s pastor

Feb 24, 2023

March 13, 2023 will mark the 10th anniversary of the election of Pope Francis. The first thing that distinguishes Pope Francis’ approach to the Petrine ministry is his pastoral sensibility.
Faced with evil, from one excess to another

Feb 18, 2023

The massive earthquake that rattled Turkey and Syria left a toll that is very high. More than 21,000 dead as I write these lines. That is just a provisional figure, to which we must also add thousands of injured and homeless people who must face the harshness of the climate.
Not of the world, but the world matters

Feb 10, 2023

Judging from the way people speak, from many articles in the Catholic press, and from a lot of homilies, Catholics as a whole aren’t so worldly in that second sense.
Who will step up to replace Cardinal Pell in defending the truth of the Catholic faith?

Jan 20, 2023

In his last years of life, the Australian prelate became one of the universal Church’s most prominent champions for doctrinal orthodoxy, a mantle others will need to carry forward following his departure.
A lesson in humility for the Church

Jan 13, 2023

A merciless irony of history. There is a risk that we will remember only one thing about Benedict XVI: his departure. With his “renunciation” in February 2013, the German pope had taken everyone by surprise.
‘‘He did all things well”: Benedict’s former student reflects on his mentor

Jan 13, 2023

There was a time — it encompassed most of the 1980s — that Catholic publishers weren’t very interested in what the largely unknown Fr Joseph Ratzinger of Germany had to say about Christian morality, the mystery of the heart of Christ, the role of religion in post-Marxist Europe or, for that matter, any other topic.
No one can be saved alone We all need one another

Jan 06, 2023

In his January 1, 2023 World Day of Peace message entitled No one can be saved alone. Combatting COVID-19 together, embarking together on paths of peace, Pope Francis challenges us to travel on new paths that allow us to cast off the chains of our old habits, and to be better prepared to dare new th
How was the Pope’s Christmas? As ever, it depends on who you ask

Jan 06, 2023

Christmas 2022 for Pope Francis was, alternatively, a disaster, a disappointment, a PR success or a pastoral bravura, all depending on the eye of the beholder. In reality, it may well have been all those things at once — a reminder, perhaps, of the complexity of the papacy, and why we should all co
Thankful for this year, looking forward to 2023

Dec 24, 2022

Merry Christmas! It is ‘merry’ because we have a God who continues to remind us that He is with us, even in our darkest moments: “The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen” (Matthew 4:16).