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October 23, 2019

Pope Francis: Synodality brought pagans to ‘reject idolatry’

October 23, 2019

Pope Francis said on Wednesday that the first Christian evangelization of the pagans opened up “a very lively controversy” as the early Church discerned how to absorb new members from outside the people of Israel. In the Acts of the Apostles, “a very delicate theological, spiritual and discipline issue is addressed,” Pope Francis said on

United Arab Emirates pledges to help rebuild Catholic churches in Mosul

October 23, 2019

The United Arab Emirates is partnering with UNESCO to rebuild two Catholic churches in Mosul that were destroyed in 2014 by the Islamic State. The initiative will help rebuild Al-Tahera Church and Al-Saa’a Church. “Today’s signing is a pioneering partnership that sends a message of light, in seemingly darker times,” Noura Al Kaabi, UAE Minister

Pompeo: Religious freedom and fighting abortion are among top US priorities

October 23, 2019

The U.S. Secretary of State listed promoting international religious freedom and fighting abortion as among U.S. foreign policy priorities in a Tuesday speech on diplomacy. In his remarks, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned the second annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom hosted by the U.S. State Department in July, with religious leaders and survivors

Morning Catholic must-reads: 23/10/19

October 23, 2019

The bishops of war-torn South Sudan have issued an “urgent call for peace and justice”. The United Arab Emirates has entered a partnership with Unesco to rebuild two Catholic churches in Mosul. The Archdiocese of Sydney has opened the Cause of Eileen O’Connor. Rocco Palmo asks if we’re seeing the “revenge of the statues” at

Letters from the synod 2019 – October 23

October 23, 2019

“Inculturation” and the Culture that is the Church by George Weigel “Inculturation” has been a buzzword throughout the Catholic world – and especially the developing Catholic world – for decades. Rarely has it gotten such a workout, or taken such a beating, as at Synod-2019. The basic idea of “inculturation” is not hard to grasp:

The forgotten Brothers Grimm fairytale about Our Lady

October 23, 2019

I blogged recently about the Russian writer, Vasily Grossman’s sight of Raphael’s painting of The Sistine Madonna for the first time at an exhibition in Moscow in 1955, and how deeply this timeless depiction of maternal tenderness affected him; indeed, he linked it to all the suffering and wretchedness he had witnessed as a war