Letter from Rome There’s a famous scene in Woody Allen’s classic 1977 movie Annie Hall in which he and Diane Keaton are having separate sessions with a couples’ counsellor, and their exchanges are shown on a split screen. When the therapist asks how often they’re intimate, Allen says, “Hardly ever, maybe three times a week,”…
Category: Comment & Analysis
US-Mexico border facing a ‘humanitarian crisis’
John Lavenburg As thousands of migrants congregate underneath the Del Rio International Bridge, the Archbishop of San Antonio says the archdiocese will help however possible, but he fears an already overwhelming situation for the border city will get worse. The number of migrants underneath the bridge grew to more than 8,000 last Thursday with some…
Papal trip tests limits of being a ‘pontifex’
Junno Arocho Esteves On paper, Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to Hungary and Slovakia was pretty standard as papal trips go: outdoor Masses, meeting with dignitaries, visiting poor and marginalised populations and of course, answering questions from journalists aboard the papal flight. Nevertheless, issues such as vaccine scepticism, migration, same-sex “marriage,” and denying Communion to Catholics…
Do we really believe that our prayers can stop a pandemic?
We need to pray even when that seems the most lifeless thing to do. That’s a counsel from Michael J. Buckley with which we need to challenge ourselves daily. In the face of real life, prayer can often seem like the most lifeless thing to do. What difference does prayer make? I will pray for…
Punctuation in anticipation of the synodal pathway
Notebook Synodal pathway… I am not sure whether that should be followed with an exclamation mark, a question mark or a full stop! Synodal pathway! (Exclamation mark) That could work. I am prone to overusing exclamation marks and am not quite sure why. I like them. They suggest life, a bit of fun and wonder…
Do we accept democracy or not?
The point about the new Texas abortion law which few commentators seem to grasp is that Roe v. Wade divided America disastrously, and should never have formed a nationwide ruling on the subject of abortion. It was passed by the Texas state legislature, in both upper and lower houses, by a democratic vote, and with…
The real story behind the repeal of the Eighth Amendment
The View Next week, a compelling new documentary Ireland’s Fall: The Abortion Deception will tell the inside story behind the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. That account will differ, of course, from the narrative that has been so widely spun by abortion campaigners and their media allies who would have you believe that Ireland’s abortion law…
The Gospel not the law must reign supreme in the Church
Mary McAleese’s remedy for greater lay involvement is undermined by the legalism with which she wants to save the synod process writes Prof. Massimo Faggioli It is always wise to pay attention to the statements that former president Mary McAleese makes on the Catholic Church. They always reveal something on this moment in the life…
Pope John Paul II was right about the ‘war on terror’
The world is a messy place and often the only realistic choices are between bad and even worse writes David Quinn Everyone remembers where they were on September 11, 2001. I was still the editor of this newspaper and had gone into a pub for lunch with some other staff and on the television set…
Blesseds abound in Church in Poland
Letter from Poland Sunday saw the beatification of two blesseds with very different, but equally holy, missions in the Church in Poland. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, declared the ‘Iron primate’, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski and Mother Elzbieta Róza Czacka blessed at Mass and a service September 12, at…
John L. Allen Jr.


Fr Ronald Rolheiser

Mary Kenny


David Quinn
