Ten sketches that begin with St. Peter and end with John Paul II.

Diarmaid MacCulloch's 'Christianity' begins a millennium before the birth of Christ.

'The Great Catholic Reformers,' reviewed

The so-called Tridentine liturgy is once again in the news, with Italian newspapers reporting rumors about a forthcoming papal indult that would loosen limits on the practice. Although as “Tridentine” the liturgy bears the name of the Council of Trent, it is only indirectly related to th

Every culture tends to harbor stereotypes of what a saint is supposed to be like and tends to fit the individual into a mold that may be misleading or one-sided. We see what we want to see, or what we think we are supposed to see, and thus are blinded to what may be unconventional about the saint in

"After viewing a city full of funerals, we return to our homes only to find them empty of our loved ones.” That’s what Petrarch wrote about the Black Death (bubonic plague), which in 1348 devastated Western Europe, killing an estimated two-thirds or more of the population. Europe re

By their choice of a name, newly elected popes have tried to project an ideal for their pontificate.

From 2005, John W. O'Malley, S.J., on the resurgence in Jesuit scholarship

After more than a quarter-century, cardinals from around the world are once again gathering in the Vatican, soon to be sequestered “in conclave” for as long as it takes to elect a new pope. We eagerly await the results but will have no information about what happens during the conclave,

ldquo In its field it is the best book ever written rdquo That was the most enthusiastic of the many enthusiastic assessments that greeted MacCulloch rsquo s book when it appeared in Britain last year It is an assessment with which I agree The book is a monumental achievement that takes readers