A supposed need for variety imposes more and more hymns on congregants, but the cost of novelty can be the full, active participation of those in the pews, writes John Zupez, S.J.

The Rodney Dangerfield film “Back to School” has a lesson for even the most famous individuals: Anyone can benefit from hitting the books.

Reforming the Vatican Curia has been a goal since the Second Vatican Council, but so far the changes have failed to improve its efficiency or responsiveness. Pope Francis is trying again.

In the wake of the fire, perhaps today’s “cultured despisers” of religion will come to appreciate how devotion to Notre Dame has been a wellspring of Western civilization as we know it.

The fire at Notre Dame raised questions about God’s protection of sacred sites. But then how could God allow the destruction of Rome just one generation after Christianity became the official religion of the Empire?

The pope will visit a section of Romania with a large ethnic Hungarian population—and a Marian shrine that has attracted allies of the autocratic, anti-migrant Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán.