With governments worldwide under pressure to ease pandemic restrictions as vaccination rates rise and impatience with border restrictions grows, new threats become clearer. One of the costliest, it is now feared, could be a tsunami of “long COVID” cases. Long COVID is a serious ongoing illness that follows an acute episode of the disease. It Read more
The number of electric vehicles on the world’s roads is surging, hitting a record number last year. That would seem to be good news, as the world tries to wean itself off fossil fuels that are wrecking the global climate. But as electric cars become more popular, some question just how environmentally friendly they are. Read more
A small ecclesial revolution; a laboratory for lay leadership is currently taking place in the Catholic Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg in Switzerland. But it likely would not have come about so soon without COVID-19 as a detonator. “The pandemic has precipitated a situation that I expected to see in 20 or 30 years: Read more
Lil Nas X, Bad Bunny and Princess Nokia all work their spirituality into their music, but you’re not likely to think of them as virginal. They are nonetheless helping to spread a craze for Mary, mother of Jesus, wearing designer Brenda Equihua’s splashy coats made from San Marcos cobijas: blankets found in many Latinx homes that Read more
Vatican diplomacy has diverged sharply from U.S. foreign policy under Pope Francis, according to a new book, which details examples to illustrate the widening divide. “While Francis has continued the pragmatism of his two predecessors, he’s also a skilled administrator, who’s mobilized the whole diplomatic corps with its interlocking assets to implement a culture of Read more
Just hours after the announcement that a top official for the U.S. bishops’ conference had suddenly resigned on July 20 citing “possible improper behaviour,” a newly launched Catholic media venture, The Pillar, published a nearly 3,000-word article alleging that the priest, Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill, had engaged in “serial sexual misconduct” by frequenting gay bars and Read more
Despite the recent decision of Pope Francis to curtail the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, we are not going to see it disappear anytime soon for a simple reason: Local bishops can and will still permit it. Francis’ new rules on the old liturgy were laid out in “Traditionis Custodes” on Friday (July 16). Read more
“Deconstruction” may not be the flashiest clickbait search term, but the hashtag is a portal to a diverse and dynamic community on the video app TikTok. The TikTokers — known as creators — within this community come from different religious backgrounds and have different beliefs. But together, they are dissecting and rethinking the Christian theology Read more
After six years of war, “Yemen remains the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe,” according to the International Rescue Committee. Confirming that terribly sad fact, Catholic Relief Services reports, “Conflict and a lack of aid has triggered a humanitarian disaster, leaving 80 percent of the population in need of assistance, including 2 million children suffering from acute Read more
Pope Francis has significantly changed the composition of the electoral college, even by adding to its number men from countries that had never before had a cardinal. This reflects his push to de-Europeanize the Church and the body that will eventually elect his successor. It is a very important institutional change. But the pope, who Read more