At the opening of the 68th General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference on May 18, Pope Francis asked bishops not to be “pilots” but rather true pastors. Many times, the pontiff has called for “pastoral bishops, not princes,” using images he had previously employed wh
In a letter to Louise Abbott in 1959, Flannery O’Connor sympathizes with what her correspondent must have been describing as a struggle of faith: “All I would like you to know is that I sympathize and I suffer this way myself.” We may never have known the details or the extent to w
A hallmark of Pope Francis’ papacy has been his ability to focus the attention of the church and the world on human beings who live on the margins of society. In no area has he accomplished this more profoundly and effectively than in defending the rights of persons on the move—immigrant
How we understand ourselves as a church guides how we should be in the world.
Nothing NewI found “The Gospel According to the ‘Nones,’” by Elizabeth Drescher (6/8), rather disappointing. The author drew broad generalizations about the alleged “Good Samaritan” spirituality of nones as opposed to the more restrictive “Golden Rule”
It will take years to take the full measure of “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis’ new encyclical on the environment, and assess its impact. Pope Leo XIII wrote about the rights of workers in “Rerum Novarum” (1891) in response to the Industrial Revolution, but unions sti
