Amid all the wrestling with theology we do, maybe our job is also to notice what is being done to us. To behold the way God uses vexing things like conflict in the church to work on us, to purify us.
The Catholic Church played a major role in bringing tobacco to Italy, which is still the number one producer of raw tobacco in the European Union today.
Pope Francis said he wrote a resignation letter in 2013, his first year in office, to be used in case he became physically or mentally impaired and unable to fulfill the duties of the papacy.
Papal infallibility is not always properly understood. Some on the right think that the magisterium can resolve every question or problem with a declaration. Those on the left often grow impatient and dispute its interventions.
The beatification of John Paul I took place on a rainy but joyous Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, with a homily by Pope Francis on the beauty of a church “with a happy, serene and smiling face.”
Pope for only 33 days, John Paul I is known both as "The Smiling Pope" and "The Forgotten Pope." On Sept. 4, he will be beatified. What were his life and papacy like?