Catholicism
A selection of recent articles on this topic
Things That Can’t Change
When the Second Vatican Council was putting the finishing touches on one of its key documents, the…
The Catholic Enlightenment: Yesterday and Today
When the eminent historian Peter Gay wrote The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism in the 1960’s,…
Passion Play
At his ascension, Jesus told the eleven disciples that they would receive the Spirit to be his…
Awakenings
The following is being delivered at Brigham Young University today, March 22, 2016. I’m here today because…
Fatima
My first sustained interfaith dialogue was with Mary Jane, when we were both in eighth grade in…
Spotlight on Francis
When Spotlight, the critically acclaimed film about the Boston Globe’s investigation into clergy sexual abuse, won best…
Tombs of the Apostles
Apostletom bissellpantheon, 407 pages, $28.95 As Matthew Arnold feared, the “Sea of Faith” has retreated—but not evenly.…
Called to Unity
Like many Ukrainian Greco-Catholics, I am pleased that Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill finally met in Havana…
The Havana Declaration
For me, the text of the Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill’s joint declaration came as a surprise,…
What (Who?) Is a University?
There is an old story, much loved by academics, that in an address to the Columbia University…
An Imposition of Ashes
Just lately from the forest and after a short time on the savannah, humanity acquired a sense…
Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill
The February 12 meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill is important for a number of reasons,…
Free Exercise, Penance, and Delaware Court
Regular First Things readers know that the late Father Richard John Neuhaus never tired of arguing that…
Mary at Baptism?
On an escarpment high above the Euphrates River in eastern Syria sit the ruins of Dura-Europos, one…
Hamlet the Confessor
Two millennia ago, a Jewish rabbi declared that he had the authority to forgive sins or “send…
