The long dominance of liberation theology is at the root of the decline of Catholicism in Brazil, according to Friar Clodovis Boff. Until 2007, the religious was an important theologian of liberation theology, although not as famous as his brother Leonardo, a former Catholic priest who is one of the founders of the movement, which Read more
Before backing a law banning abortion in Texas altogether, Gov. Greg Abbott propelled a 2021 measure banning abortion after a heartbeat has been detected, saying he “would protect the life of every child with a heartbeat.” He happens to be Catholic. So why did Abbott put razor wire and a floating barrier in the Rio Read more
You know when you start to make a smoothie and everything is loud, the blender is shaking, and you think it’s about to explode? That was me at age five realising that my beliefs contradict each other. Growing up in a Māori Catholic family, I struggled to exist within two worlds. My spirituality has never Read more
When he pulls back from the table, it is wet from his tears. It isn’t like he is sobbing. The tears just fall silently. Salvo, the name of this 30-something man who signed up for confession at the prison where I serve as a chaplain, kept on speaking. I wasn’t sure whether he was talking Read more
Pope Francis keeps repeating that the upcoming synod is not a parliament. For him, the synod is not a forum for competing positions to debate each other with a goal of developing new policies or effecting structural changes in the church. Similarly, when Pope John XXIII convoked the Second Vatican Council in 1962, he did Read more
Pope Francis travelled to Lisbon, Portugal, this month for his fourth World Youth Day, to listen to the hopes, challenges and questions of over one million young Catholics from every corner of the global church. He met with sexual abuse survivors, Ukrainian pilgrims, university students, young people suffering from illness; and he challenged them all Read more
There was a time in my life when the only badly behaved people I knew were all adults. They were utterly entitled and completely uncivilised. I can give you chapter and verse of shouting, harassment of all kinds, extreme bullying; and all done with a smile and “she’ll be right, mate”. These people saw themselves Read more
In February, Ruslana Danilkina (pictured), a 19-year-old Ukrainian soldier, came under fire near the front line around Zaporizhzhia in south-eastern Ukraine. Shrapnel tore her left leg off above the knee. She clutched her severed thigh bone and watched medics place her severed leg into the vehicle that took her to a hospital. “I was holding Read more
Anyone who does not believe in global warming after what we endured during July is so deep in denial they would not flee a burning house if their clothes were on fire. And yet millions of Americans still do not accept the facts revealed by science. Rather, they continue to believe the lies propagated by Read more
For decades, the renowned evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins urged his readers to use science and reason to counter religious misinformation. Dawkins is abandoning both to spread anti-transgender rhetoric embraced by religious conservatives. During a recent episode of his podcast “The Poetry of Reality,” Dawkins spoke with author Helen Joyce about the “influence of Read more