Newly Beatified German Cardinal Feared God More Than Man, Pope SaysCardinal Clemens August von Galen of Münster, Germany, an outspoken critic of Adolf Hitler’s regime, feared God more than man, Pope Benedict XVI said moments after the cardinal was beatified. All of us, but especially we Germa

On this day in 1965, the Vatican II’s “Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions,” also known as “Nostra Aetate,” was promulgated by the council—despite surprises, shocks and setbacks along the way.

A well-known Jewish parable tells the story of a young man who was hiking on a journey. It was common at that time to follow signposts, which displayed the names of various destinations and pointed in different directions. At one particular crossroads on his way, the young man found the signpost had

The Latin words nostra aetate mean “in our time,” a fitting opening phrase for the declaration promulgated by the Second Vatican Council in 1965 that has truly transformed our time. In Nostra Aetate the Catholic Church accepted that those of different faith communities, the “others

The late Pope John Paul II frequently called for a “new evangelization,” by which he meant the renewed preaching of the Gospel in regions long assumed to be Christian, like Europe and the Americas. Pope Benedict XVI continues these efforts. On Sept. 29, presidents of the 34 European epis

The last piece of mail I opened that Friday afternoon was a large white envelope bearing the return address of the Diocese of Cleveland. Having already received a memorandum about this mailing, I tore into the rectangular package with curiosity. Inside, I found the newly released Standards of Conduc

The Just War Theory is a centuries-old set of principles that provide objective norms for the moral evaluation of war. With each new technological advance or new kind of warfare the just war theory has evolved in order to remain relevant. In the wake of the most recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanis

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, published by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, is a remarkable summary of Catholic social teaching. Those who were disappointed with the abbreviated treatment of Catholic social thought in the Catechism of the Catholic Church will be d

In the catholic understanding, a saint is somebody who is all-out for God, full of faith, hope and love. Such a person, decidedly, was the Chilean Jesuit Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga. Hurtado, born in 1901, was four years old when his father died, leaving his mother saddled with heavy debts and forced t

John Long, Leading Ecumenist, Dies at 80John F. Long, S.J., a leading ecumenist and one of the world’s foremost Catholic experts on Eastern Orthodox churches and theology, died in New York on Sept. 20 following hospitalization for emergency cardiac surgery. He was 80 years old. Cardinal Willia