pope francis

The death of Pope Francis, after a very public diminishment, closes a signal chapter in Catholic history with absolutely no certainty about who or what comes next. Rather than reflexively corralling…

As you probably know by now, Pope Francis has died. (Mere hours after meeting with—how is this real life—US Vice President James Donald Bowman, aka James David Hamel, who prefers to be called JD Vance…

One of President Biden’s final acts as US president was to grant clemency to American Indian Movement (AIM) activist Leonard Peltier (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe), who will be released into home arrest…

Eight years ago here at RD I noted that women were fleeing organized religion —as measured by attendance at religious services—faster than men, a trend that showed no sign of letting up. Historically…

The good news about the Vatican’s recent document, ” Dignitas Infinita : on Human Dignity” is that most people will not read it. This shoddily written, self-referential, unresearched paper wouldn’t…

Roman Catholicism is in precarious shape when blessings are controversial. Just before Christmas, and on the heels of the Synod — a gathering of bishops and some lay people to discuss church policy —…

In advance of the Catholic Church’s recent global gathering, Pope Francis raised the hopes of LGBTQ Catholics that progress may be on the horizon through a series of letters and reports that hinted at…

When the summit on the future of the Catholic Church began on October 9, I allowed myself for the first time in many years to feel optimistic. I smiled at pictures of Pope Francis welcoming LGBTQ…

For the first time in centuries the ordination of women is on the table in the Roman Catholic Church. It has arisen as a real possibility through the Synod on Synodality , which was launched by Pope…

What are the responsibilities of the Catholic Church when considering the historical realities of settler colonialism in what we now call the Americas? This question lies at the heart of recent…