Vatican
A BOMBSHELL DOCUMENT AT THE VATICAN SYNOD, New Yorker, October 13, 2014
Since Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis, a little more than a year and a half ago, the Argentine has radically changed the tone and the mood surrounding the Catholic Church. But the question remained: How would he handle the difficult doctrinal issues of sexuality and family life that have divided the Catholic world? We are…
Continue readingTHE POPE EXCOMMUNICATES THE MAFIA, FINALLY, New Yorker, June 24, 2014
In some ways, it is surprising that Pope Francis made news by travelling to Calabria and excommunicating members of the Mafia. He went to a town where members of a local Mafia group, known as the ’Ndrangheta, had murdered a three-year-old boy, together with his grandfather, and burned their bodies, in a case tied up…
Continue readingWho Am I to Judge? Francis Redefines the Papacy, newyorker.com, July 30, 2013
Week by week, during the past several months, we have gotten a better idea of what the papacy of Pope Francis looks and sounds like. From the beginning he has set a new tone, one of informality, openness, humility, and approachability. He has begun to redefine the papacy, replacing the traditional figure of the Pope—a…
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Inaugurating Pope Francis
While the new Pope, Francis, has made a point of emphasizing simplicity—rather than wearing the usual gold ring, he has insisted on one made of silver—today he gave way to Vatican tradition and formally assumed his office following most (but not all) of the elaborate ceremonial script worked out in minute detail over more than a thousand years. Even within this deeply traditional institution, the script has changed, sometimes quite substantially.
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