The problem with John Podesta's outraged critics isn't their tone. It's their narrow understanding of church—and organizing.
Catholic Church
Papal politics and perils
Politi's account reveals much of what happened among the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on those days in March 2013.
There’s the Pope Francis buzz. And then there’s reality. Last week news outlets reported that Pope Francis would form a commission to study the issue of female deacons in the Catholic Church. The predictable reverberations began immediately.
Within a decade, a sixth of the world's Catholics will be African—yet the continent has few canonized saints. This is starting to change.
Morality vs. moralism
Just when I was feeling despondent, I was asked to review a book by Luigi Giussani. His rhetoric both bamboozled and mesmerized me.
In January, Pope Francis will visit the Philippines. By 2050, there could be 100 million Catholics there.
Priest under threat
Calvary is a masterpiece of religious filmmaking. Its greatest achievement is to convey the impact of a community's near-collapse of faith.
The United States and the Catholic Church share some intriguing similarities: both are global in reach, exert significant influence over hundreds of millions of people, and (perhaps most interestingly) make serious teleological claims. Such claims have not necessarily clashed, for they appeal to different social and moral aspects of humanity. At their best, they can be complementary empires of promise.
As we remember the Reformation over the next couple of years, we should also recall its global context.
On February 11, comedian Stephen Colbert asked historian Garry Wills if he was in favor of the next pope being not John Paul III or Benedict XVII but “Nobody the First.” Wills smiled and said, “Ah, very good idea.” For some Catholics, this idea is more than a joke.