Dan Horan, OFM, reflects on Mandela’s complex relationship to nonviolence and peacemaking.

Fides, the Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies, reports that 22 pastoral care workers were killed worldwide in 2013, almost double the number who were killed the year before. For the fifth consecutive year, Latin America had the highest number of such deaths. In 2013, 19 priests,

The Gospel cannot be proclaimed “with inquisitorial beatings of condemnation. No, the Gospel is preached gently, with fraternity and love,” with an open heart “always longing” for God, like that of St. Peter Faber, Pope Francis told 350 fellow Jesuits at the Church of the Ges

United Nations peacekeepers and officials struggled to contain two ongoing crises in Africa as the New Year began. Hastily arranged peace talks to end the sudden conflict in South Sudan began in Ethiopia as the world’s newest nation sank deeper into a de facto civil war. Meanwhile, in the neig

When it comes to building a just society for the poor, the question is simply "What works?"

In the first nine-and-a-half months of Pope Francis’ pontificate, more than 6.6 million people participated in papal events at the Vatican—three times the number who visited during all of 2012. • Antonios Aziz Mina, the Coptic Catholic bishop of Giza, Egypt, said terrorist attacks w

A Head Start“Saving the Humanities,” by Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. (12/23), addresses a most important topic. Many of the reports cited expand the discussion to secondary education, and one report discusses the whole educational continuum. To even start to develop oneself into a fully educ

Just a few days before news emerged that the city of Falluja in Iraq’s Anbar Province had fallen into Al Qaeda hands on Jan. 3, the Web site Iraqbodycount.com released its report on the annual death toll in Iraq. Its researchers found that 9,500 civilians died in violence in Iraq in 2013, the

The U.S. public shows little appetite for making the spending cuts often discussed as part of a “grand bargain” on the federal budget, according to a national survey by the Pew Research Center conducted in December 2013. The survey found that majorities say it is more important to mainta

Depicting belief - believably - in a literary culture that views religion as a relic of the past.

Philippine government and Muslim rebels take a step toward peace with power-sharing agreement.

Two of the most stirring images of the Pope Francis center on a person with a disability.

Catholic agencies' keep services going in nasty weather

In his New Year rsquo s Day column for the Washington Post George Will appears to endorse an idea that was explored in this blog last fall see the post ldquo Cato Institute Choosy Voters Choose Smaller Government rdquo Because voters aren rsquo t taking the time to follow everything their go

January quot hosts quot the U S C C B 39 s Poverty Awareness Month and National Migration Week and two U S bishops led the charge in the press this week on themes related to these issues Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput on immigration reform and Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski on fixing

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger responds to a 2001 America article by Cardinal Walter Kasper on the relationship between the universal church and local churches.

With the new semester underway for many high schools and soon to commence for most colleges it rsquo s an apt time to reflect once more on the role of educators the nature of education and the ancient calling of inspiring the pursuit of knowledge Instinctually I think about what I have to do --

(Un)Conventional Wisdom on the year ahead from our politics blogger Robert D. Sullivan.

Some very interesting comments from readers on my recent column quot Post-Clerical Catholics quot many thanks to all those who have taken the time to share their thoughts Along those same lines Pope Francis kept up his own running commentary on the issue of clericalism when he spoke to 120 s

UN peacekeepers struggle to contain two ongoing crises in Africa as the New Year begins.