The highly diplomatic stakes of the pope’s unexpected trip to Mongolia
Pope Francis is in Mongolia for a long weekend visit to the tiny Catholic community in the landlocked Central Asian nation sandwiched between China and Russia
The fledgling Church the pope is visiting in Mongolia
Pope Francis has gone to Mongolia to encourage a tiny Catholic community facing difficulties linked to local culture and a past devoid of Christian roots
Pope arrives in Mongolia, the ‘heart of Asia’
Greeted with “aaruul,” a dried yogurt cheese, which he tried, Pope Francis arrived in Ulaanbaatar for a four-day visit. After the nine-hour, overnight flight from Rome, the pope’s arrival Sept. 1 was low key. Battsetseg Batmunkh, Mongolia’s foreign minister, met him at Chinggis Khaan International Airport and had a brief meeting with him in the […]
St. Giles’ relics were visted by popes, kings, soldiers, and little children alike
Fleeing from men in order to find God, St. Giles quitted his native land, where his rank, and still more his virtues, prevented him from being unknown.
Pope’s trip to Mongolia is “a strong signal of dialogue with Buddhism”, says religious scholar
Interview with Eric Vinson, director of the Paris-based Institute of Buddhist Studies
Texas Supreme Court allows ban on some transgender surgeries, hormonal interventions for minors
The Texas Supreme Court on Aug. 31 moved to allow a state law banning certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender to go into effect. The law, Senate Bill 14, prohibits procedures and treatments for children in Texas “for gender transitioning, gender reassignment, or gender dysphoria and on the […]
September papal prayer intention: for people living on the margins (Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network)
The Pope’s September prayer intention, disseminated by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer), is “We pray for those persons living on the margins of society, in inhumane life conditions; may they not be overlooked by institutions and never considered of lesser importance.”
Maryland parents go to court over LGBTQ+ books in schools (Our Sunday Visitor)
A group of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian parents in Maryland, in the words of their lawsuit, are seeking “the ability to opt their children out of reading and discussion of books with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer characters because the books’ messages contradict their sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage, human sexuality, and gender.” […]
Bishop Barron responds to Synod expert Ivereigh, asks: When did conversion become a dirty word? (The Boston Pilot)
In July, Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester (MN) criticized Cardinal-designate Américo Alves Aguiar’s statement that “we don’t want to convert the young people to Christ” at World Youth Day. Papal biographer Austen Ivereigh— appointed by Pope Francis as an expert at the upcoming Synod— responded that “What Barron has trouble understanding is that the bid […]
The dictator’s playbook: why Ortega is attacking the Jesuits in Nicaragua (America)
Father Bill McCormick, SJ, a professor at St. Louis University, writes that the Ortega regime shut down the Jesuit university and seized the Jesuit residence in Nicaragua because the Jesuits there offered “spaces for political dissent.”