With an all-star cast including Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, “Conclave“ has attracted a lot of Hollywood buzz. It has also raised some questions: How is a pope really elected? Does the movie get it right?

John O'Malley's new book completes his trinity of works on church councils.

A precious manuscript teaches us not only by its words and images but by its very life as an historical object. A prime example is the Crusader Bible, which is briefly being displayed with its leaves untypically separated before being rebound at its home in New York City’s Morgan Library. (The

Church historians measure time in centuries, not weeks, so it is a daunting challenge to attempt even a brief assessment of a pontificate just concluded. Daring to go where prophets should fear to tread, what follows can only be a tentative status quaestionis of Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy at t

We did not get ashes on Ash Wednesday last year. Late in the evening a few days after our three-year-old daughter’s heart surgery, I realized what day it was. We would not make it to the parish in time to receive ashes, I told my wife. With pitch-perfect insight, she turned to me. “Babe,