Reflections on life, meaning and purpose

Biden, Pope discuss Middle East in phone call (Vatican News)

Pope Francis spoke by telephone with US President Joe Biden on October 22. The Vatican reported that the 20-minute conversation centers on “situations of conflict in the world and the need to identify paths to peace.” The White House said that during the conversation Biden “condemned the barbarous attack by Hamas against Israeli civilians and […]

Pope denounces Western efforts to export democracy (CNA)

Citing the disastrous results of Western intervention in Libya and Iraq, Pope Francis said that “we must not export our democracy to other countries, but help them to develop a process of democratic maturation according to their characteristics.” The Pope’s remarks were published by the Italian daily La Stampa, in excerpts from a new book, […]

Israeli airstrike hits historic Orthodox parish in Gaza (PBS NewsHour)

An Israeli airstrike struck the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza, an Orthodox parish dedicated in 1150 on the site of a fifth-century church. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expressed “its strongest condemnation of the Israeli air strike,” in which more than a dozen people were killed. “As a result of the IDF [Israeli […]

Catholicism faces decline in Latin America, CELAM report shows (Pillar)

A sharp drop in the number of baptisms—along with a similar drop in marriages—points to an overall decline in the faith, warns a report from the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM). The report shows that between 2000 and 2020, the number of annual baptisms plunged by more than one-third: from 8.2 million to […]