Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state for President Bill Clinton, argued that American foreign policy neglected the role of religion, and that it should be engaged as a potential force for peace.
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On the eve of Pope Francis’ initial Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, Convivium Editor-in-chief Father Raymond J. de Souza talked with Governor General David Johnston, who was in Rome leading the Canadian delegation. Following is their conversation.
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A month ago I wrote about how recent silence from the Vatican on the crisis in Venezuela indicated a confusion about how to proceed. In the intervening weeks developments in Venezuela have rapidly deteriorated.
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What is striking about the cultural appropriation controversy is the vehemence with which that debate is engaged; a vehemence that attacks the character and good intentions of those who would otherwise seem to be progressive allies.
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At Fatima, Our Lady scared the hell out of the children to whom she appeared. Or more precisely, she frightened the children out of hell and took them instead to heaven. Pope Francis will confirm that on Saturday when he canonises Francisco and Jacinta in Fatima on the centenary of the first apparition on May 13, 1917.
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In the great slaughterhouse of the twentieth century, the sheer scale of lethal evil, organized above all in the communist regimes, appeared to have loosed Satan himself in the world.
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Tens of thousands will march in Ottawa today in celebration of human life, proclaiming that all life has value and ought to be protected in law. But the advent of assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia means that life is less protected in law than previously.
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Do divine interventions in history belong only to the biblical period, and then only as fantastic tales intended to make a general point? Or do they accompany us through history?
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The centenary of the apparitions at Fatima invites us to look back at 1917, a year in which an old world order gave way to a new, more lethal one.
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In 1982, the Marian shrine that St. John Paul II wanted to visit was the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, the Queen of Poland. Instead, he went to Fatima.
Read MoreThe case of current martyrs, being delivered weekly by jihadis and others, is a different kind of thing. Most of them are entirely unknown beyond their own family and friends until after they are numbered among the dead.
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As the Ontario bishops completed their ad limina visit to Rome last week, I couldn’t help but recall one of my favourite stories about one of Ontario’s favourite bishops.
Read MorePremier Brad Wall was aghast at the April court decision that it was unconstitutional for non-Catholics, by their own choice, to attend publicly-funded Catholic schools.
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The joint statement doesn’t say that the Orthodox will recognize Catholic baptisms as valid as a general principle, but commits the Coptic Orthodox to “seek sincerely” not to re-baptize. It is a clear step in the recognition of common baptism and momentous for that reason.
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In this year of significant religious anniversaries, the 800 years since St Francis sent the first friars to the Holy Land does not register alongside the Reformation or Fatima. Yet that decision continues to shape the Christian presence at our holiest sites.
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What will the pope and patriarch say, albeit indirectly, about his regime? It is better for Christians that he is in power, but like Mubarak and a long tradition of secular Arab leaders, el-Sisi is rough around the edges when it comes to human rights and democratic processes.
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After a visit to Egypt, I reflected on the contrast between the pyramids of ancient Egypt and the central fact of Christianity, the empty tomb. As the Pope and the Patriarch head to Cairo during the Easter season, it might serve our Convivium readers to offer it here.
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Pope Francis must choose how he addresses the Muslim community when he visits Egypt this week. He has two models: Former U.S. President Barack Obama and former Pope Benedict XVI.
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