Fr Raymond de Souza, Author at Catholic Herald

Fr Raymond de Souza

Why did Evo Morales find such favour at the Vatican?

November 28, 2019

Evo Morales, who fled to Mexico after resigning as president, may not be missed in Bolivia but his absence will be felt at the Vatican. One of the most curious aspects of the first Latin American pontificate is that Morales enjoyed the status he did. He was the Holy Father’s favourite leader in the Americas.

What to expect from Pope Francis’s trip to Thailand and Japan

November 21, 2019

The papal visit to Thailand and Japan will give Pope Francis the chance to address five key themes of his social teaching, and two general questions about his pontificate. The five key themes are human trafficking, nuclear weapons, sustainable energy, solidarity between generations and immigration. The two general questions are missionary activity and the Pope’s

Leo XIII: the missionary prisoner

November 14, 2019

The recent decision by Pope Francis to add the feast of Our Lady of Loreto to the universal calendar made me think of Pope Leo XIII, the missionary prisoner. Permit me an explanation. For the past 10 years I have spent a chunk of July in Kraków teaching in the Tertio Millennio Seminar on the

How Argentina’s crises have shaped the Pope’s thinking

November 07, 2019

Cry for Argentina. Further economic suffering is on its way, and that has implications for the Catholic teaching on the economy under native son Pope Francis. The recent elections have brought the Peronists back to the presidency. Alberto Fernández won the elections on October 27, defeating the more pro-market Mauricio Macri. Peronists have a

What the Amazon really needs

October 31, 2019

Pope Francis suggested that his apostolic exhortation following the Amazon synod could be completed before the end of the year. The Holy Father is certainly capable of it. In 2015, the draft of Amoris Laetitia was delivered to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before the feast of the Immaculate Conception, less than

Words, hymns and moderation: Newman and the genius of English Catholicism

October 24, 2019

Does the canonisation of St John Henry Newman mean approbation for something more than a single, splendid, sanctified life? Does it celebrate a particularly English way of being Catholic? On the evening of the Holy Mass of thanksgiving at the London Oratory, Cardinal Vincent Nichols suggested as much, noting that Newman both symbolised and helped

Don’t try to sugarcoat St John Henry

October 17, 2019

The canonisation of John Henry Newman was a glorious affair and, for this writer – the chaplain for Newman House at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, since 2004 – a moment of deep personal joy. Canonisations in Rome in recent years have been rather flat affairs, even last year’s which included Pope St Paul VI

How Benedict XVI and Leo XIII were inspired by Newman

October 10, 2019

Given his seclusion, it is hard to know what Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI thinks about what is going on around him, but it is safe to say that the last few weeks must have been painful. His fellow Germans are now defiantly setting out towards a national synod which will damage their communion with the

The tiny chalice that tells the story of Lithuania’s heroic priests

October 03, 2019

The highlight of the consistory for new cardinals on October 5 will be the bestowal of the red hat on Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevičius, emeritus of Kaunas, in Lithuania, and emeritus of the Siberian gulag. I recently met a young priest of Kaunas who is an heir to that witness, by blood and chrism, family and

Why ever more priests are declining to become bishops

September 26, 2019

This Friday, September 27, William Joensen will be ordained the new Bishop of Des Moines, Iowa. Fr Bill and I have taught together for more than 10 years at the annual Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society in Kraków, so I know the good people of Des Moines have been blessed with their new

Two very different Catholics battle to be Canada’s PM

September 19, 2019

Canadians are famous for saying sorry. It’s the default setting for public encounters; a busy railway station or airport is a cacophony of competing apologies as people sort themselves out into the proper queues. It is often said that we even say sorry to bank machines, though I have not witnessed that. People certainly say

How a lone missionary found a way to defeat poverty

September 12, 2019

“Poverty is not inevitable!” So declared the Holy Father on his visit to Madagascar, the poor island-nation of some 26 million people in the Indian Ocean. Pope Francis made his declaration when visiting Akamasoa, a community built upon a former garbage dump where people once foraged for food. Now there are nearly 30,000 people who

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