The two most prominent authors we are reading in my course this semester for advanced undergraduates on the classics of spirituality are Augustine of Hippo and Dante Alighieri. I see by his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, that Benedict XVI has been reading them as well. It will come as no surpri

I was happy to discover that Pope Benedict’s first encyclical is not a crackdown on dissident theologians, nor a stern reprimand to the secular world. Rather, it is an extended reflection on the nature of Christian love. It is addressed not only to the bishops of the world, but also to priests

Self-styled progressive Catholics have, for over a generation, downplayed the role of charity in social action. They might revere Mother Teresa of Calcutta as a saint, but they dismissed her charitable approach as a superficial, Band-Aid response to poverty. Some even considered her approach dangero

Pope Benedict’s first encyclical letter is superb in many ways and well deserves the nearly universal praise it has received. I found Deus Caritas Est informative, inspiring and at times extremely consoling, even sublime. The world certainly stands to benefit from this profound reflection on t

Social movements sometimes grow slowly out of sight, like Mark’s “seed growing secretly,” and then burst forth suddenly with astonishing rightness, just made for the times. So it is with the Religious Campaign Against Torture (www.nrcat.org). George Hunsinger, a graduate school cla

Israeli Citizen Named Melkite ArchbishopFor the first time, the Vatican and the Melkite Catholic Synod of Bishops have agreed on an Israeli citizen to be archbishop of Akko, Israel. Archimandrite Elias Chacour, parish priest of the village of Ibillin in northern Galilee and founder of Mar Elias Coll

Have you ever tried to explain the Catholic regulations on fasting to a Muslim, a Jew or a Hindu? Save yourself the raised eyebrows of incomprehension or the smirk that says, “You’ve got to be kidding!” Somehow “one full meal and two lesser ones not equaling it” doesn&r

In 1935 a 26-year-old Viennese Jew with a Ph D in art history but no job hastily penned Eine kurze Weltgeschichte f r junge Leser as part of a series called Knowledge for Children before fleeing to England where in time he became director of the Warburg Institute and the celebrated author of

The chasm between the Muslim world and the West yawns still wider as a result of the furor over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Some of the protest, particularly in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, was government instigated; some was fomented by radicals keen to whip up animosity against the West.

First Lady and Pope Talk of Peace and ViolenceLaura Bush, wife of the U.S. president, and one of her 24-year-old twin daughters, Barbara Bush, met the pope at the Vatican on Feb. 9 during a brief stop in Rome on the way to the Olympics. After the meeting, she told reporters traveling with her that p