There has been near-universal joyous reaction to Pope Francis’s recent proclamation that the Roman Catholic Church needs to focus less on issues like homosexuality, abortion and contraception and more on other, deeper spiritual matters. The Holy Father has been lauded for his humility, and his reasoned stance that the Church needs to find a new…
Like every other gay person I know, I rejoiced at the recent statement by Pope Francis I that, in his view, the Catholic Church has been overly “obsessed” with homosexuality, abortion and birth control. For one thing, I hope that the pope’s statement ends the massive crusade on the part of the United States Conference…
Pope Francis praised Jews for keeping their faith despite the Holocaust and other “terrible trials” throughout history, and reaffirmed Judaism as the “holy root” of Christianity. Francis made the statements in an unprecedented open letter to Eugenio Scalfari, a prominent Italian atheist and founding editor of the liberal newspaper La Repubblica. The pope’s letter, published…
He’s not our spiritual leader, of course, but the brief remarks by Pope Francis suggesting that he would not judge priests for their sexual orientation could serve as a humble lesson for the Jewish community, as well. “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to…
A Jewish leader expressed concern to Pope Francis on Monday over attempts to make a saint of World War Two-era Pope Pius XII, who has been accused of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust. Francis made no mention of his wartime predecessor during his talks with members of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious…
Pope Francis greeted about 30 Jews and Catholics from Italy and the Americas who took part a symposium on Christian-Jewish dialogue. Among the Jewish participants was the pope’s old friend from Buenos Aires, Rabbi Abraham Skorka. The four-day seminar, which concluded Thursday, was organized by the Focolare Movement, an international Christian organization promoting brotherhood, and…
Two men who have recently attained very high office now, each in his own domain, search for encounters. The encounters for which they search are quite different from one another, though both are surely commendable. Let us examine their quests. First we have Pope Francis, who is in various ways proving to be a man…
Atheists should be seen as good people if they do good, Pope Francis said on Wednesday in his latest urging that people of all religions – or no religion – work together. The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics made his comments in the homily of his morning Mass in his residence, a…
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