Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, president of the powerful Italian bishops’ conference, comes off as a very modern figure. His roots are in the Community of Sant’Egidio, a new movement in Catholicism that dates just to 1968, and he’s a key ally of Pope Francis in his effort to promote a 21st century global Church. Yet…
The actions of Ireland’s 1916 revolutionaries were rooted in a “higher cause”, Bishop Niall Coll said during Mass for the Annual State Commemorative Ceremonies for the 1916 Easter Rising. Their cause required “the selfless sacrifice of their own lives in the cause of Irish freedom”, the bishop of Ossory said in Arbour Hill, Dublin, on…
Jenna Marie Cooper Catholics don’t pray that souls in purgatory won’t wind up in hell, because hell is no longer a possibility for them. We do pray because we hope that, through our prayers and sacrifices, the sufferings of their purgation might be eased and their journey to heaven might be hastened. Let us recall…
Mary is the model for walking with Jesus, Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell told the more than 2,000 people from his diocese who made the pilgrimage to Knock on April 29. Over 2,000 people from across the diocese attended the pilgrimage and travelled to the shrine on various forms of transport including 26 buses. Before…
Archbishop Ladislav Nemet of Belgrade, Serbia, told OSV News that “no child should be a victim of violence,” following a school shooting in that city that left eight children and one security guard dead, with six students and a teacher injured. On May 3, a 13-year-old male student at the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School opened…
John Lavenburg A US-government commission tasked with monitoring religious freedom abroad has recommended the State Department designate five new countries as “Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs)” because of their engagement in, or toleration of, “particularly severe” religious freedom violations, including against Christians. In its 2023 report released on May 1, the United States Commission on…
Recently I came across in my files this letter which I received in February 1985 from my classmate and much-treasured friend, Fr Peter Lemass. Peter set out at the end of 1984 to join the Columban mission in Chile. Before his departure he promised his classmates to keep us informed on his experiences and the…
Christian discipleship calls all of us to be prophetic, to be advocates for justice, to help give voice to the poor and to defend truth. But not all of us, by temperament or by particular vocation, are called to civil disobedience, public demonstrations, and the picket lines, as were Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Daniel…
Wealthy Catholics in Germany seem set for a collision course with the Vatican, and the rest of the Church over their push to change basic Catholic doctrines and practices. Pope Francis has long warned of the danger of the synodal process being hijacked by elites pushing an agenda. It’s hard to think of a more…
Deacon Greg Kandra May 14, 2023 – Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20 I Peter 3:15-18 John 14:15-21 A few years ago, a colleague of mine made a pastoral visit to one of the forgotten corners of the world: Armenia. Here is a country suffering from devastations…
John L. Allen Jr.
Ruadhán Jones
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly