With numerous armed conflicts raging in various parts of the world, and the Vietnam War worsening, Pope Paul VI on Oct. 4, 1965 proclaimed before the U.N. General Assembly: “No more war, war never again. It is peace, peace which must guide the destinies of peoples and of all mankind.” more

In the Church today there are a number of issues, often liturgical in nature, that are commonly used to define conservatives and liberals. more

True respect for life requires us to get out of our comfort zone. more

The Gospel of life must be proclaimed, and human life defended in all places and all times. The arena for moral responsibility includes not only the halls of government, but the voting booth as well. (American Bishops, “Living the Gospel of Life”) more

We need to do something! With the barbaric Islamic State now controlling large portions of Iraq and Syria, and inflicting rape, torture and even beheading on those who do not conform to their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, it is imperative that they must be stopped. more

I’ve got a problem. My dog is gone and I miss her. As some of you know, I lost my little dog Molly about three months ago, on June 19 to be exact. She died at the age of sixteen from old age and recurring respiratory problems. Molly had been with me since she was just eight weeks old. She was a wonderful part of my life all those years, and now I miss her. more

In October a number of bishops from around the world will meet with Pope Francis in Rome to discuss the “Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization.” A similar meeting in October of 2015 will follow-up on the same topic. more

In many places of the world it’s not good being a Christian these days. Or, I should say, it’s not easy being a Christian these days. It’s open season on Christians in many countries of the world; Christians are suffering and dying for their faith in unprecedented numbers, at least in the modern era. Consider the following. more

Saints Popes John XXIII and John Paul II prophetically raised their voices on behalf of the suffering masses. They spoke truth to power, and challenged all of us to advance the kingdom of God — a kingdom of love, justice and peace. more

Emergency: Syria! Emergency: South Sudan! Emergency: Democratic Republic of the Congo! These are the alarming messages being displayed on the homepage of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (www.unhcr.org). more

We turn on our faucets and out comes water — clean, refreshing, plentiful, life-sustaining water. But we rarely give it a thought. We just tend to take for granted that it will always be there. We even forget to thank God — the well-spring of life. more

“As Lent draws near, I would like to offer some helpful thoughts on our path of conversion as individuals and as a community.” Here, in the first sentence of his Lenten message, Pope Francis gives us a needed reminder that we are called to walk on the “path of conversion.” more

For quite some time I have had an interest in the plight of the homeless. I have read about it, prayed over it, and have done small things to help. But feeling that I could, and should, do more to make a difference, I concluded that living as a homeless man — at least for a very brief period — was the best way to understand what it’s like to have no place to call home. more

Papal approbation being no bad thing, I was delighted to learn that Pope Francis, in a homily a few weeks ago, had suggested that his congregants learn the date of their baptisms and celebrate it—which is precisely what I have been proposing to audiences around the country this past year, when discussing my book, Evangelical Catholicism. more

Critical of the enormous gap between the haves and the have-nots, Pope Francis said, “This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control,” (Evangelii Gaudium, “The Joy of the Gospel”). more

Twenty-five years ago, on Jan. 27, 1989, a joint statement from the communist government of Poland, the Solidarity trade union, and the Catholic Church announced a national “Roundtable” to discuss the country’s future, including major structural issues of political and economic reform. The Roundtable began the following month; basic agreements were reached in April; partially-free elections, swept by Solidarity candidates, were held in June; and in September, a Solidarity leader, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, became Poland’s first non-communist prime minister since World War II. more

A good friend habitually refers to the Wall Street Journal as his “favorite Catholic newspaper”—a bit of whimsy not without foundation, given the openness of the Journal’s op-ed pages to serious Catholic argument on numerous issues. But just as Homer occasionally nods, so does America’s best newspaper. And on Jan. 2, the Journal nodded, big-time, in this description of why Pope Francis was one of the “People to Watch” in 2014: more

My fascination with Ukraine began in 1984, during a sabbatical year at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. There, one of the first friends I made among my fellow Fellows was Dr. Bohdan Bociurkiw, a Ukrainian-Canadian professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. We first connected through a mutual interest in religious freedom behind the iron curtain; within a few weeks, Bohdan was giving me private tutorials in the history and culture of his native land, including an in-depth introduction to the story of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). more

A hopeful, yet sadly still unfulfilled dream, is reflected in the title of Pope Francis’ Jan. 1, 2014 World Day of Peace message, “Fraternity, the Foundation and Pathway to Peace.” more

The flurry of instabooks published shortly after the election of Pope Francis didn’t shed much light on the formation, character and interests of Jorge Mario Bergoglio or the likely trajectory of his pontificate. Now comes something serious and useful: “Pope Francis: Our Brother, Our Friend — Personal Recollections About the Man Who Became Pope,” edited by Alejandro Bermúdez and published by Ignatius Press. In 20 interviews, longtime friends and associates of the pope “from the ends of the earth” give readers real insight into the radical Christian disciple who is leading the Church “into the deep” of the new evangelization, following the call of John Paul II in 2001. more