Robert Royal on the Sino-Vatican pact: We hear we must be patient and not give up hope, but facts on the ground show the Church has been had. China is a large, strange, complex, contradictory thing, even before you get to the large, strange, complex, contradictory, and murderous form of Communism that has come to dominate […]
William Kilpatrick: Church leaders continue to insist that Islam is not a threat, despite the fact that an abundance of facts shows Muslim hostility to Catholicism. In comments last year, Marcello Pera, a prominent Italian intellectual and non-believer, criticized Pope Francis for “openly going against tradition, doctrine, and introducing inexplicable innovations, behaviors and gestures.” A philosopher […]
Note: As we enter the 2020s, it’s only natural to be thinking about what lies ahead. So we asked some of TCT’s deep thinkers to speculate about the future – freely, but no end-of-the-world scenarios allowed, since those short circuit the whole enterprise. Some responded with high seriousness, others with sparkling wit, still others with – well, […]
Eduardo Echeverria: Given the Church’s constant opposition, no “blessing” can be found for homosexual couples within the context of Catholicism. Once again, the German archbishop, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, responded positively to the question, “What do you do when a homosexual couple asks you for an episcopal blessing.” He claims not to be promoting a general […]
Ines A. Murzaku: Jesus was the protomartyr, and Christians across the globe are being martyred today. But the West is too frightened to call evil by its name. A few days ago, I went to my trusted Lebanese-American mechanic for an oil change. The Christians of the East have always had a penchant for discussing […]
Fr. Gerald E. Murray on a Pontifical Biblical Commission book that suggests the Church’s teaching on homosexuality is antiquated. In his 1967 classic defense of the Catholic Faith against modern errors, Trojan Horse in the City of God, Dietrich von Hildebrand wrote: “With a religion the only question that can matter is whether or not it […]
William Kilpatrick: Pope Francis seems not to see a problem meeting with and embracing an anti-Semite like the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayyeb. John Cornwell’s 1999 smear of Pius XII, Hitler’s Pope, became a best-seller, lauded by reviewers and excerpted in major magazines. Cornwell portrayed Pope Pius as an anti-Semite, a supporter of Hitler, […]
Fr. Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap.: The Father established Jesus, his glorious incarnate Son, as the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, and so King of kings, the Lord of lords. Today, even at the highest ecclesial levels, the importance of Catholic doctrine is disparaged. In particular, Jesus is reduced to one of […]
Robert Royal: It’s not good to let utopian visions of peace mesmerize us when worldwide persecution of fellow believers proceeds apace. How long can the Vatican remain silent about the Chinese repression in Hong Kong and about reports of persecution and re-education camps for religious believers in the rest of China? Clearly, the figures in the Roman […]
Note: The Great Professor Arkes reminds us today of something everyone should understand about the distinction between faith and reason, especially in the public square. Faith is addressed to reason, but reason – right reason – is quite capable on its own of telling us truths about public questions such as the duty to protect the […]
Bevil Bramwell OMI: Why is the priesthood male? Because Christ is male, and the men are there to represent Christ, in persona Christi. The issue of women priests comes up every so often, but the questioner rarely asks simply to know the truth about the matter and then commit his/her mind to it. Instead, it becomes clear that […]
Brad Miner on a new docudrama about St. Faustina, beloved of St. John Paul II, who canonized her, and the “founder” of Divine Mercy Sunday. The film premieres tonight. It’s a remarkable thing that the visions of a 25-year-old Polish nun would, after years of suppression by the Vatican, become what is now a major feast […]
Robert Royal: At the Synod, humans are termed “guests” on earth. In fact, we are God’s creatures, meant to be here as much as any created thing. Synods almost always move within established boundaries and the subjects they take on, the very language they use, are largely predictable. But a new term popped up at […]
Thomas F. Farr: The Vatican’s charism in China is not diplomacy but witness to the truth about God and man. The current assault on religion in China under President Xi Jinping is the most comprehensive attempt to manipulate and control religious communities since the Cultural Revolution.” Or so I argued in congressional testimony last fall. Part of […]
Hadley Arkes: The good society works to broaden not burden the freedom of ordinary people to make their livings doing ordinary things. Another report in the unfolding story of this pontificate: The redoubtable Daniel Mahoney, who reads and sees everything, brought me the account of Archbishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, who has been serving since 1998, […]