Dispatches

Senior clerics of the Church of England joined politicians from the nearby Houses of Parliament to give thanks for the United Kingdom’s seaborne nuclear deterrent. A more ill-judged, if not blasphemous, event could hardly be imagined.

Pope Francis has gone “to the peripheries,” creating cardinals from 50 different nations, but Europe still accounts for more than 40 percent of electors in the College of Cardinals.

With the House of Representatives expected to vote this week on a bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing federal nondiscrimination laws, Catholic leaders find themselves on both sides of the debate.

The far right has been splintered among several parties in the European Parliament. But if the movement wins more seats and unites behind a pan-European party, it could become decisive in continental politics.

“We would have been far more impressed if this new law required church officials to report to police and prosecutors instead. Oversight from external, secular authorities will better protect children and deter cover-ups.”

Jean Vanier lived the beautiful mystery of our human condition that we need one another, young and old, strong and weak.