The first Weekend Plug-in of 2024 looks ahead to the year’s expected big news. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) Currently, there is a season of speculation about Pope Francis’ future and whether his newly chosen cardinals are his final bid to shape the conclave that will elect the next pope. Francis has hinted he might consider the idea of resigning, but Vaticanologists figure Francis will not do so as long as another former pope is alive.
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Following days of rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Pope Francis called on Christians around the world to fast and pray for peace this coming Ash Wednesday. Before ending his general audience at the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, the pontiff said believers should fight “the diabolical senselessness of violence” that has engulfed the Russian-Ukraine border.
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(OPINION) Whether Catholics who go against church doctrine should receive Holy Communion remained a hot topic as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops braced for its fall 2021 meetings this week (Nov. 15-18) in Baltimore. But the bishops know they have other problems that are affecting bottom-line issues in American parishes.
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Pope Francis told the media aboard his papal plane that he has never denied Holy Communion to anyone and that he once gave the Eucharist to a Jewish woman in a nursing home. In Catholic Church law, only confirmed Catholics in good standing may receive Communion. But the pope found the encounter to be a positive mishap.
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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced its cooperation with the U.S. government to organize and process the tens of thousands of Afghan refugees entering the country as the U.S. withdraws troops and the Taliban assumes control over Afghanistan.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights religion headlines after the Taliban’s takeover of the government in Afghanistan. Plus, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) "One could say that the two Masses have built two cities: the Mass of All Times has built a Christian city; the New Mass seeks to build a humanist and secular city."
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(REVIEW) A new PBS documentary on the life of Pope Francis that premiered on June 20 presents an hour long overview from his childhood to his papacy. It paints Francis as a reformer of the Catholic Church and a pope who cares greatly for other people.
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Ahead of the world day of prayer for the Catholic Church in China on May 24, Pope Francis asked that the faithful pray the Holy Spirit would help Chinese Catholics “to be bearers of the happy message, witnesses of goodness and charity, and builders of justice and peace in their country.”
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in explores news coverage over whether President Biden, a Catholic, might be denied Communion because of his support for abortion rights. Plus, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) Pope Francis’ Apostolic Visit to Iraq begins on March 5, 2021. This first-ever papal visit to Iraq aims to provide moral support to Christian minorities in Iraq and the region while facilitating the Vatican’s goal of building bridges with the Muslim world. The visit comes close to seven years after religious minorities in the region, including Christians and Yazidis, have been targeted for annihilation by Daesh.
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Zen, who recently returned to Hong Kong from a trip to the Vatican, has no higher authority on Earth to appeal to in his fight to save his country’s church from infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party.
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In his newly released encyclical, Fratelli tutti, Pope Francis addresses the whole world as his audience, attempting to answer how modern society can correct course towards a kinder and more loving world. The pope’s third encyclical has ruffled some Catholics for its condemnation of profit-driven economic models, the death penalty, immigration policy and more.
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(OPINION) Pope Francis, who has consistently drawn the ire of Catholic media on the doctrinal right, gave his view of what the religious press should look like in the United States.
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Egypt, Israel and Palestine are closing several holy sites after a fleet of Greek tourists who visited them have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Meanwhile, faith groups around the world are rethinking traditions to curb the spread of the disease and protect their worshippers without straying from their religious laws.
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A piece of wood believed to be from Jesus’ manger arrived in Bethlehem on Saturday. Palestinian Christians are celebrating its presence, and local businesses are hoping it will bring more tourists.
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A discussion in Rome this week will include whether the church should allow flexibility in its traditional vow of celibacy for priests to ordain married men in the remote Amazon. The decision could very well impact Catholicism around the world.
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(COMMENTARY) The attempt by Pope Francis to finally create some accountability and transparency is well intentioned, although misguided given that it largely ignores the role of laypeople and relies primarily on clergy self-policing.
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