Recent Editorial

Career secretaries of recent popes

Jun 13, 2016

John Paul II elevated his personal secretary, Stanis?aw Dziwisz, to the episcopate in February 1998, when he appointed him Adjunct Prefect of the Papal Household.
Gentleman secretary of Pope John XXIII

Jun 13, 2016

Cardinal Loris Francesco Capovilla died on May 25, 2016, at the age of 100.
Monarchy or Diarchy?

Jun 13, 2016

There was yet another hubbub a couple weeks back about the Third Secret of Fatima, one that involved former pope Benedict XVI with claims that he did not reveal all of the secret — claims that set Fatima devotees abuzz and forced the former pope himself to deny the assertions.
Benedict not Pope-emeritus

Jun 03, 2016

The former pope’s personal secretary and housemate, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, recently made the unbelievable claim that Benedict XVI never really abdicated the Petrine Ministry when he resigned.
Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar

Jun 03, 2016

I was impressed by the meeting between Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Ahmad Muhammad Al-Tayyib.
The Pope at the service of peace

Jun 03, 2016

"Seek and strive after peace,” says a line in Psalm 34. This would have been a perfect episcopal motto for Pope Francis, had he not already taken, long ago, miserando atque eligendo, a clunky phrase that basically expresses his belief that it was only through God’s mercy that God chose him to be a bishop.
Pope Francis on Islam

May 26, 2016

I really like to see, amidst the populist appeals of many politicians to the lowest — the very lowest — common denominator in humanity, that a public figure has the courage to talk sense about religion.
Islam, the Gospel, and World Conquest

May 26, 2016

The interviewers asked Francis about “fear of Islam:” “The fear of accepting migrants is partly based on a fear of Islam.
Is there a Christian Europe?

May 26, 2016

What is particularly striking is Francis’ rather novel view of “Europe” in relation to Christendom.
Women, Church and Diaconate

May 20, 2016

Pope Francis’ willingness to dig deeper into the question of the female diaconate is in tune with what he has said on other occasions in the first three years of his pontificate about the importance of valuing the role of women in the Church.