While much ink has been spilled by Vatican watchers interpreting how the pope’s writings and structural changes will shape the church for years to come, Pope Francis’ gestures may do even more to define his legacy.
Explainer
Posted inExplainer, Faith
Explainer: Cardinal Tobin will now help Pope Francis pick bishops. What does that mean for the U.S. Church?
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, named today to the influential Congregation for Bishops, has been known as a “Pope Francis bishop”—one who generally follows the pope’s lead in prioritizing social justice issues and dialogue over culture war flashpoints.
Posted inExplainer, Faith
Explainer: Your bishop said it’s time to come back to church. Is it a sin if you don’t go?
Whenever dioceses choose to lift dispensations, like with other difficult pandemic-related decisions, individual believers will have to decide for themselves when they feel safe going back to church.
Posted inExplainer, Faith
Explainer: What is an annulment? (And why does Pope Francis want to make it easier to get one?)
No matter how many times you hear it described thus—jokingly or not—an annulment is not just “Catholic divorce.” Church teaching is not that the marriage in question failed, but that the marriage never existed in a sacramental sense.
Posted inExplainer, Politics & Society
Explainer: The (complicated) history of U.S. ambassadors to the Vatican
Maintaining the relationship between the United States and the Holy See is vital to advancing the interests of each government.
Posted inExplainer, Politics & Society
Here’s what you need to know about Poland’s abortion ban — and the protests against it.
Archbishop Gadecki, president of the Polish bishops’ conference, called for protestors and lawmakers to have further talks “on how to protect the right to life and women’s rights.”
Posted inExplainer, Politics & Society
Explainer: What are Pope Francis and the Vatican doing to fight climate change?
The Biden administration will find a willing partner in the fight against climate change in Rome—where the commitment to the environment predates Pope Francis.
Posted inExplainer, Faith
Explainer: The history of women lectors and altar servers—and what Pope Francis has changed
Women have served as lectors and acolytes for decades. Now Pope Francis has changed canon law to formally recognize their ministry.
Posted inExplainer, Politics & Society
These 14 senators are all Jesuit-educated. But they don’t vote (or pray) alike.
They’re Democrats and Republicans, Catholics, Protestants and a Buddhist. But they all graduated from a Jesuit high school, college or university.
Posted inExplainer, Politics & Society
The 15 times a Catholic has been named Time’s Person of the Year
With no small bit of swagger, we present to you: Catholics who were Time’s Person of the Year.