From time to time, Vatican officials are accused of living in a bubble, detached from the complex and sometimes harsh realities facing ordinary people. However accurate that may be in individual cases, it’s certainly not the story of Brazilian Archbishop Joao Braz de Aviz, 64, appointed in January as the new prefect of the Congregation Read more
Nick Tonti-Filippini is a bioethicist who serves on various Australian government committees and teaches at a Catholic institute in Melbourne. He is 55. Some of those years must have gone slowly for him, as he is chronically ill. Fortunately, he has the training to analyse his difficulties with critical detachment. So his reflections on euthanasia, Read more
Economics is not a business science, although it has applications to business. Rather, it is part of the liberal arts and is a science of human action. Economics studies the actions that most people take in response to circumstances in their lives, but especially those actions that are visible to us. This is why economists Read more
If scientist, Aubrey de Grey’s predictions are right, the first person who will live to see their 150th birthday has already been born and living forever is a definite possibility. And the first person to live for 1,000 years could be less than 20 years younger. A biomedical gerontologist and chief scientist of a foundation Read more
The decision of the New York state legislature to approve gay marriage will be seen by some as a symptom of an underlying disease called “moral relativism.” But this is a mistake that, I think, blocks our understanding of what is really going on. One need only look at the joy and satisfaction with which Read more
According to the Blair Faith Foundation, “though many Enlightenment thinkers assumed that religion and faith were on the wane, to be inevitably replaced by rational, scientific insight, this theory looks increasingly implausible today. Rather than Europe leading the way, it is now clearly the exception to the rule. The world is becoming more religious.” How do Read more
American Catholicism should be preparing for 2020 when a large increase in the Catholic population, mostly Hispanic, will present Church leaders with the challenge to open rather than close new churches and schools. Instead of preparing for the future, bishops and priests now in key administrative and pastoral positions, led by Pope Benedict XVI, are Read more
Emotions flare up at the mention of immigration. People feel strongly about the issue on all sides. People express their opinion on Web sites, in blogs, at rallies and in phone calls to their legislators. Like other bishops, I have received many e-mails, calls and letters mostly voicing anger about my involvement with the issue. Read more
Pope Benedict has appointed Venice patriarch Cardinal Angelo Scola as archbishop of Milan on Tuesday, moving him to a high profile position in the Italian Catholic church. The 69-year-old Scola is a theologian like Benedict and is considered one of his closest advisers among Italian prelates. He is known for his outreach to Muslim and Read more
How did New York lawmakers, long known for their decades of late budgets and partisan gridlock, manage to pull off a generational milestone like legalizing gay marriage? Friday night’s victory for gay marriage advocates was the product of changing public attitudes, and a political campaign that was more sophisticated, better funded, and armed with more Read more