Can natural law still serve as the lingua franca of politics in a pluralist society?

In a joint statement, representatives of more than 60 countries have recognized that Christians are particularly endangered in the Middle East, and they called on the international community to reaffirm the human right to freedom of religion. The violence carried out by terrorist groups “creat

I have long puzzled over the ruby slippers in “The Wizard of Oz,” an archetype of childhood and transformation. When Dorothy’s house lands on the Wicked Witch and Glinda shows up, these slippers are magically transfered to Dorothy. It would seem that she now possesses her transport

The undeclared war between Russia and Ukraine cannot be contained in the same way other recent Russian expansionist conflicts—Transnistria since 1990 and South Ossetia and Abkhazia since 2008—have been isolated. Unlike these contested regions, Ukraine is a much more significant country,

These days, when I light a candle at the base of the makeshift shrine in my sitting room, I feel at peace. I haven’t always felt this way. A year and a half ago, I would have been sitting down in a room of similar size but crowded with food wrappers and neglected dirty laundry. I probably woul

Vigilant JusticeRe “Listening in Ferguson,” by J. Augustine Wetta, O.S.B. (3/9): The Ferguson incident began with the policeman verbally attacking Michael Brown and his companion, shouting at them with rough language. Would it not be better if law officers always chose courtesy over domi

Sitting Down With Iran; Sitting Down With Iran; Gasoline on the Fire?

Suspicious of all political utopias, Ionesco rejected the efforts at a partisan recuperation of the drama.

The beatification of El Salvador’s martyred Archbishop Óscar Romero will take place during a ceremony in El Salvador on May 23, the day before Pentecost Sunday. The date was announced on March 11 by Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, postulator of Romero’s cause for sainthood, in El Salvador.

A study released by the Brookings Institution in Washington finds that single women whose income is 400 percent of the federal poverty line or higher are nearly four times as likely to opt for an abortion when faced with an unplanned pregnancy. The findings contradict earlier statements by the Guttm

Things could not be worse in Venezuela. No, actually, they could be—and probably will be.Despite its prodigious oil wealth, Venezuela is heading over a financial cliff, and it is heading there faster thanks to the plunging price of crude oil. The socialist revolution founded by the late Hugo C

Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Communications, surprised America’s church correspondent Mary Ann Walsh, R.S.M., with the prestigious St. Francis de Sales Award from the Catholic Press Association in Albany on March 12. • On March

Pope Francis' words have raised hopes among women, and some impatience.

O Holy Spiritwe did not knowhow strong you arein our dull ageuntil we saw your colorsapple reds, transparent greens,blue of truth,laid upon the figurinesdeep embossed in halos,Gospel figures,hooded, cloaked,upon the roador standing by a city doorwaydrawn in heavy blackened brushagainst the Holy skie

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has been unable to confirm the number of its members abducted in Syria, nor where they are being held. The society announced on its website on March 4 that “several colleagues,” along with “women and children,” were kidnapped in the province

In a surprising and far-reaching decision, Pope Francis announced an extraordinary holy year, a Jubilee of Mercy, that will extend from Dec. 8, 2015, to Nov. 20, 2016, and will involve the Catholic Church throughout the world. He broke the news during a penitential celebration in St. Peter’s B

Among the ever-growing pile of books in my room is a small compilation of quotations from the great St. Pio of Pietrelcina, often called Padre Pio. It is meant for daily meditation during Lent, but I find myself flipping through its pages at every season of the year, looking for something fitting fo

Despite various attempts over the centuries to give her a personal story, there is no evidence that she was a historical figure. She has never been included in any official list of Catholic saints; and although she is commemorated on July 12 in the Orthodox churches, there has never been a universal

What drove three well-integrated British schoolgirls to join the Islamic State?