America asked a selection of writers, theologians and church leaders to respond to Pope Francis' first encyclical, Lumen Fidei. Check this page in the coming days for additional contributions.Knowing The One Whom We LoveBy Drew Christiansen, S. J.“The Light of Faith,” Pope Francis sa

Philosophers keep exploring the empty space left by the eclipse of religion in the West at least in the academic company they keep In his Religon for Atheists 2012 Alain de Boton perceptively described the consolations of religion and going further he suggested how atheists might ldquo despoil

Since the first days of his pontificate, Pope Francis has spoken of his plans to renew the Synod of Bishops. In the last weeks it emerged as a centerpiece of his ministry. Three times this month he has spoken of "synodality"—that is, the role of meetings of bishops in church governance.

T M Luhrmann is once more pressing her case that religion is less about belief than about belonging On Thursday rsquo s New York Times op-ed page the Stanford anthropologist and frequent Times guest columnist argues that many of today rsquo s Evangelicals even when they don rsquo t believe adh

In an hour-long speech Thursday afternoon President Barack Obama laid out his policies toward global terrorism He touched on revoking the war powers passed in the wake of 9 11 on drone warfare as a method of defense on the potentially negative impact of an unending state of war on U S civil lib

On May Day there were riots in Greece in protest of the ruinous austerity imposed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund Eurostat the official European statistics agency announced Tuesday that unemployment had hit a new high of 19 million Youth unemployment on a continent-wide

At Boston College a co-ed posted an invitation to her Facebook friends to join her in walking the last several miles of Monday rsquo s ill-fated marathon from the point where the police after the bombing had held back the throng In an hour 600 ldquo friends rdquo had committed to the walk By

This week brought news of two significant developments for the cause of peace in the world First the United Nations approved a Treaty on Small Arms Trade By a vote of 154 to 3 with 23 abstentions the United Nations General Assembly approved a treaty intended to limit the transfer weapons to pote

The announcement that Pope Francis will celebrate the Mass of the Last Supper in a private ceremony with youthful offenders in the Casal del Marmo Youth Jail is the latest act of exemplary leadership in his new pontificate He and the 50 delinquents 10 girls and 40 boys will be joined only by his

‘Pacem in Terris” was born in the mind of Blessed John XXIII in the fall of 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis, when he served as a back channel between President John F. Kennedy and the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, urging dialogue to end the most dangerous confrontation of the col