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According to Vatican-speak, a specially scheduled session of the Synod of Bishops is an “Extraordinary Synod,” meaning Not-an-Ordinary...

I’ve been writing op-ed columns for the Catholic press since 1979. In its present form, “The Catholic Difference,” I began this column in...

As the world marked the silver anniversary of the Polish elections of June 1989, which eventually brought to power the first...

His Holiness, Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Danilov Monastery 115191 Moscow RUSSIA Your Holiness: Grace and peace in our...

The first 15 minutes of Saving Private Ryan and the jump sequence in the second episode of Band of Brothers are vivid reminders of the...

When we first met in April 2011, what initially impressed me about Sviatoslav Shevchuk was his almost preternatural calm: which was...

Half an hour before sunrise on Ash Wednesday, hundreds of English-speakers from all over Rome will begin walking to the ancient basilica...

Pete Seeger died on Jan. 27, rich in years (94) and in honors (a lifetime-achievement Grammy, the National Medal for the Arts). His death...

Papal approbation being no bad thing, I was delighted to learn that Pope Francis, in a homily a few weeks ago, had suggested that his...

Two recent books suggest that, amidst challenges and problems, the pace of authentic Catholic renewal is accelerating in these United...

I doubt that Pope Francis has heard of Ernie Banks, the Hall of Fame shortstop. But like “Mr. Cub,” whose love for baseball led him to...

KRACOW—The chapel in the archbishop’s residence in Kracow—which everyone calls by its street name, “Franciszkanska 3”—has witnessed a lot...

Criticism comes with the territory when you write books, and the best for which any author can hope is intelligent criticism that engages...

In the course of preparing “The End and the Beginning,” the second volume of my biography of John Paul II, I was struck by a historical...

The recent papal interregnum and conclave underscored the importance of re-forming, and reforming, the College of Cardinals. As...

When did modern Catholicism begin? The conventional wisdom says, “At Vatican II.” A sophisticated version of the conventional wisdom...

Eighteenth-century British Jacobites wistfully toasted “the king over the water,” referring to exiled King James II, his successors, and...

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith, a broad, bipartisan coalition quickly formed to...

In the flood of commentary surrounding the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I found but one reference to a related anniversary of considerable...

Thomas Merton is usually thought of as a liberal or progressive Catholic, which in many respects he was: he certainly tilted left...