Francis has made it clear he wants to renew the John Paul II Institute by developing the guidelines in "Amoris Laetitia," which traditionalists have criticized.
Notre Dame's president talks about the election and the call to serve the common good by engaging with political institutions, even in our pluralistic society.
Has the pope picked predominantly “progressive” prelates as the latest cardinal-electors? Or is it that the so-called "center" has shifted since John Paul II?
Whomever the Jesuits discern to be their next Father General, they should consider his skills in dealing with conflict. Especially with higher Church authority.
The provenance of the term “Benedict Option” actually offers at least some hope that it might actually fashion a meeting ground amid U.S. culture wars.
The U.S. bishops' 'Faithful Citizenship' has turned out to be irrelevant to the most pressing moral and practical questions raised by the 2016 presidential contest.
Mass facing the people has a profound beauty. A view of the priest’s back and elbows isn’t naturally or inevitably going to make anyone think of the Second Coming.
A phrase that many people in the last pontificate ridiculed as an unthinking, trendy-lefty capitulation to religious syncretism is fully back in vogue in the Church.
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia has long been outspoken when it comes to the intersection of religion and politics, but this is not a normal election year.
Pope Benedict XVI resigned over three years ago; Francis is undeniably the only pope.Yet in some ways the transition is ongoing and continues to affect the Church.
Pope Francis may have named Fr. Pizzaballa an archbishop and temporary seat-holder of a patriarchate precisely in order to succeed the ambitious Cardinal Scola.
There won't be "reform of the reform" after all. Francis shakes up the Vatican's financial management, chooses new (lay, non-Italian) leadership at the press office.
Despite allowing a study on the female deaconate, the pope seemed to rule out any new structure in the church that would concretely incorporate women’s voices.
Religious liberty has a damaged “brand” these days, and Catholic institutions have played a role. The nation's largest church now needs to lower the temperature.
Criticism and applause for Francis's newly created process to try bishops accused of covering up sex abuse; Where have certain "bad" bishops from the U.S. ended up?
Early stories of Jews, Christians, and Muslims; the politics of celibacy and marriage; reflections from Cardinal Kasper; afterlife and wealth in early Christianity.
Cardinals grapple with Francis's unclear "but-also" logic; Bishops hesitate to implement changes pope called for three years ago; What will happen to Vatican Radio?
Francis holds first private talks at Vatican with Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb; Former aide to Bishop-emeritus of Rome claims Ratizinger never really resigned as pope
When Pope Francis issued a formal “bull” instituting the current Year of Mercy, he included in its appendix a lengthy informal interview with an Italian journalist.
Romero refused to sacrifice his conscience to his country’s ruler. To be killed for doing right and speaking against evil in the name of Christ is to be a martyr.
Can a progressive-minded approach can work in a city where the more severe measures of the past failed to prevent a steady increase in the number of homeless people?
The truth (and history) behind the pope's comments on a commission to "clarify" the role of women deacons; Italian bishops react to Italy legalizing same-sex unions.
Pope calls for change in economic theory and practice to deal with refugees in Europe while Rome's Augustinian Institute unveils "Master in Joseph Ratzinger" degree.
Acknowledging the significance of Populorum progressio and the second confrerence of CELAM is essential to understanding the post-Vatican II Latin-American church
Francis reforms the "evangelical spirit" of the church as a rumored eighty-five percent of cardinals in the Curia disapprove, many because of his work with refugees.
