commeNTARY
Catholic social teaching is for everyone
The modern tradition of Catholic social teaching — the toolbox of principles the church calls us to draw upon to build the just social order — was instigated by Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903).
A Ticket to Pope Leo’s First Papal Audience
Back in early April, Abigail Benjamin submitted a request for tickets to attend a papal audience in May. Not many people were requesting tickets at the time, as a cardinal handled the papal audiences for an ailing Pope Francis. But Abigail felt she and her husband, Jon, should go. They could never have known that […]
Question Corner: Are the Gospels made up, nonhistorical accounts?
It seems unlikely that these men would have been willing to suffer so intensely and give up so much if they themselves did not sincerely believe in the truth of what they were professing. Reasoning it out, what would have been the Apostles’ motivation for making up a new religion if it meant that they had everything to lose but nothing in this world to gain?
On Ascension, absence and true love
Mothering is a presence that pulses in flesh and blood. A love that can never go absent, even when it looks like it has left.
The doors we open
He commands no armies, but we pray desperately that Pope Leo’s moral weight, and ours as he guides us, can make the world and our country a more peaceful place, a community of love and welcome, a place where all are respected and the common good is the common standard.
Thérèse of Lisieux: 100 Years of Light
As we have observed the death of Pope Francis, the conclave and the early days of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate, the centenary of St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s canonization — May 17, 1925 — has mostly fallen off the radar. But the details of that momentous event are worth remembering.
Christ at the center
The way Pope Leo has put Christ at the center in these early days of his pontificate illustrates that Christ is no mere idea or role model.
The pope is speaking my language
I never thought we would have an American pope, so I had no expectations for how that might different for me, as an American. I had never considered what it would be like to hear a pope talk in English with an American accent.
Question Corner: Does a married person need their marriage blessed or ‘convalidated’ once they become Catholic?
A person does not need to be Catholic or even Christian to have a valid marriage, provided that in their matrimonial consent they committed themselves to a union that would broadly match our Catholic understanding of marriage: namely, as a permanent, faithful, and exclusive union ordered fundamentally towards children and family life.
Forcing clergy to break the seal of confession harms victims
Being unable to be honest with a doctor for fear of safety is one thing. Creating a situation in which victim-survivors may feel unsafe being honest with God is a violation of religious freedom and causes direct harm.