The preparatory documents for the 2021-23 Synod of Bishops on synodality make it clear that the excluded must be included: Bishops the world over are called to make “every effort” to consult and listen to those who feel “excluded or marginalized” from society and the church. “If we believe in the imago Dei, that the Read more
Dear young people – it is especially you I am thinking of as I allow these thoughts to unravel. You will be the architects of the future. Amazing science and technology will open doors we haven’t even come to yet. Hopefully, you will always be guided by what it means to be authentically human, which Read more
People in the Vatican often use biblical allusions to express their expectations. Such was the case of a top Roman Curia official on March 19, just a few hours after Pope Francis had published his new apostolic constitution to fully reorganize the Church’s central bureaucracy. He was more than willing to give his views on Read more
I walked the exhibit halls of HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition and I marvelled at the technology. I was looking for surprises, bold innovations, and the magic that could change the world. HIMSS asked us to “reimagine” heath, but for me, it was more than imagination. I’ve been down the imagination road for many Read more
Last year, I spent about six months reporting a feature story and an accompanying podcast episode for America on how women are rising to leadership positions in the Vatican. It’s one of my favorite subjects: In 2019, when I traveled to Rome to report on the Vatican’s historic summit on preventing sexual abuse, I carved Read more
As I write this the war news gets grimmer by the day. We have gone in the space of a few weeks from ‘it could not happen’ to ‘not in 2022!’ to ‘is there no respect for life – much less for self-determination – in Putin’s vision?’ Meanwhile, many of us are discovering just how Read more
Those who set the Church’s moral behaviours have only ever had partial control over them – and chocolate perhaps helps explain why. Chocolate’s acceptance in the Catholic diet was clearly less the result of what theologians or canon lawyers did or said than of the decisions of ordinary clergy and laity who drank it regardless, Read more
Numerous things liturgical have changed for the better since Vatican II. Should you have any doubt of the progress, plan a Tridentine Mass in your parish next Sunday. Turn the altar about and scout a copy of the Leonine prayers. However, one cannot escape the dread feeling that the reforms have not made the grade. Read more
One morning in early March 2020 I got up, got ready and then walked down to the Lawrence Hill train station in Bristol. It was a Thursday and I was heading into London to work from my firm’s office for a couple of days while staying with my parents just to the north of the Read more
The Bishops’ Conference of the Nordic Countries recently wrote an open letter to the German Bishops’ Conference to voice concerns over the Synodal Path now underway in Germany. They ‘“let rip” at the Germans. The Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland Church leaders’ letter is an excellent example of one group of bishops seeing the Read more