It is nearly dawn. The sun has only barely begun to peak its head above the smokestacks and factory rooftops that fill the city skyline. The year is 1898. You...
Encyclicals
Sometimes, we feel caught in a maelstrom. Modern life moves at a breathless pace and we despair at keeping up. Pope Francis dubbed this dizzying trajectory...
As I do every year, I spent a long evening back in March watching the Oscars. Sure, it’s a parade of glitzy fashions and often debatable award winners giving...
I recently spent time in a cabin in the woods. For days I had to do things the “old way”; rustic was a repeated word in the brochure about this cabin, and they...
Being Catholic used to mean going to church. That’s what Catholics did before the Second Vatican Council, and we did it a lot. Then came Vatican II...
Pope Francis’ recent declaration, Fiducia Supplicans (On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings), has garnered much attention around the globe, including everything...
The Vatican recently released Dignitas Infinita (Declaration on the Dignity of the Human Person). After the introductory sections, the document addresses...
I read our pope’s documents in Spanish to get an intimate sense of what he’s feeling. I also refer to him as Francisco, because as a Latin American and a child...
Like the pope’s encyclical letter on creation care, Laudato Si’, the apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum alludes to St. Francis of Assisi and his famous...
Laudate Deum is an astonishing short letter that is part scolding, part warning, part strict urging, and one hundred percent pastoral concern. Clearly a...
