Category: Pope Francis

Pope Francis’s passing comes during the 10th anniversary of the publication of his groundbreaking encyclical Laudato Si’ – On Care for our Common Home – which examined Catholic environmental teaching in the light of today’s planetary crisis. Over the past 10 years, Pope Francis’s leadership has borne initiatives that have transformed the Catholic Church into…

Click here to subscribe

I remember exactly where I was on August 15, 2004. Sitting in my grandparents’ house, all I wanted was to watch Match of the Day. Chelsea had played, and I was eager to see the highlights. But there was no football that morning—RTÉ was broadcasting a Mass from Lourdes, celebrated by a very frail Pope…

Click here to subscribe

The election of Pope Francis on March 13, 2013, following the unprecedented retirement of the scholarly, gentle, spiritual Pope Benedict came as a huge surprise to many of us. In my lifetime there have been seven popes: Pius XII, St John XXIII, St Paul VI, St John Paul I, St John Paul II, Benedict XVI…

Click here to subscribe

The misunderstanding of technological advancement and human progress As we entrust Pope Francis to the loving mercy of God after his twelve years of Petrine ministry, it is good to ponder aspects of his legacy. One aspect – perhaps among the less obvious ones, but which we can ponder with great gratitude – is the…

Click here to subscribe

When Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope in 1978 taking the name John Paul II, he joked with the Roman crowd that the cardinals had called him da un paese lontano – from a faraway country. After all, the Archbishop of Krakow had come from behind the ‘iron curtain’ and was the first non-Italian Pope since…

Click here to subscribe