A graduate student of mine is currently writing a thesis on St. Irenaeus of Lyons, and she reminded me that he (who died c. 202) had to contend with a problem that still bedevils Christians […]
The news that Pope Francis is establishing a new tribunal within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to discipline bishops over their handling of sexual offenses is very welcome news indeed. This, I […]
Though my wife finds my abiding interest in funerals rather odd, it is her fault that I have this interest in the first place. It actually began on our wedding day, and it greatly deepened […]
The media is so predictable. With Lent well underway, and Easter now just a month off, watch for an increasing spate of cover stories about whether Jesus was really resurrected, whether he ascended to heaven, […]
I was startled recently to recall that my first involvement with the modern ecumenical movement took place in 1990—a quarter-century ago now. It was a preparatory meeting in Quebec City, a splendid, old-world city where […]
Several years ago, while giving a lecture on demystifying the papacy and Vatican, I came up with a graph that I humbly called “DeVille’s Law of Papal Media Coverage”. I reproduce the masterpiece below: […]
Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, the “foreign affairs minister” of the Russian Orthodox Church, is, as George Weigel observed recently in First Things, a talented man, “charming and witty.” However, the gifted Hilarion, Weigel rightly noted, “does […]
As a monarchist who grew up in Canada, I went through a phase of obsessively reading the history of the Tudors, the Hanovers, the Stuarts, and those who, since World War I, we have called […]
It’s a tricky thing, in the era of Pope Francis, to get the optics of ostentatious poverty just right. CNN recently published a piece, “The lavish homes of American archbishops” that featured a hit parade […]
As soon as I read Pope Francis’ recently released “Top 10 Secrets to Happiness” I could already imagine the push back from some Catholics when they read his ninth suggestion: We can inspire others through […]
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