This week’s guest is Eve Tushnet. We discuss her article “The value of public penance in the age of clerical abuse, mass incarceration and #MeToo.” We also discuss these articles: What is motu proprio? Will a 40-foot cross finally push the Supreme Court to revisit public religious displays? Pope Francis calls for an ‘all-out battle’ against […]
Latin America
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Cardinal: Amazon synod to focus on climate change, not married priests
The Peruvian cardinal was in Rome for a conference sponsored by the general secretariat of the Synod of Bishop centered on the topics that will be discussed at the synod Oct. 6-27.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Brazil’s Bolsonaro is worried about a new ‘leftist’ insurgency: The Catholic Church.
Some members of the armed forces resent the influence and popularity of the Catholic Church in the Amazon.
Posted inFeatures, Politics & Society
How the Catholic Church is responding to Venezuela’s refugee crisis
Over one million Venezuelans have arrived in Colombia as of May 2018. Colombia is not a rich country, and helping to bear the burden of receiving thousands of Venezuelan refugees every day is the Catholic Church.
Posted inFaith, News
Pope Francis lifts suspension imposed on Nicaragua’s Ernesto Cardenal
St. John Paul II had suspended Father Cardenal and several other priests from active ministry in 1985 for joining the Marxist-influenced Sandinista government. Father Cardenal resigned from the Sandinista Front in 1994.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Accompanying undocumented immigrants is “the Catholic thing to do”
A new Catholic initiative connects volunteers with undocumented members of the community who need support.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Guaido delegation says the Vatican supports new elections in Venezuela
The delegation was in Rome to solicit the support of the Italian government in recognizing Guaido as interim president of Venezuela.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Venezuelans in Brazil watch as a leadership crisis continues to grip their homeland
“As long as there is a dictatorship in Venezuela, it is better not to return,” said Alexander. “I feel that there is an illegitimate government, a power that literally controls everything, but also an opposition that has defrauded the people many times.”
Posted inFaith, News
Gaspar Romero, brother of St. Óscar Romero, has died at 89
On Feb. 2, Santos Gaspar Romero Galdamez, the younger brother of Salvadoran Archbishop St. Oscar Romero, died in San Salvador, El Salvador.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis on Yemen, Venezuela and the abuse of nuns by clergy
During a 45-minute press conference on the flight from Abu Dhabi to Rome, Pope Francis answered questions about whether the Holy See would be ready to act as a mediator to avoid a civil war in Venezuela, the problem of the sexual abuse of nuns by clergy in the Catholic Church and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.