In 1571, the future of Christian Europe was very precarious. Once united in faith, “Christendom” had become splintered with heresy, dissent and a rising nationalism that placed country over religious duty. Luther’s seed had produced countless weeds sprouting up uncontrollably. Nothing…

The other week, the Holy See, via the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, published a strongly-worded and unequivocal warning aimed at contumacious souls tinkering with the idea of “ordaining” women to the priesthood. The document makes clear that any such…

All eyes will be focused on the White House come April 16 when the successor to Peter touches down for his tête-à-tête with the successor to Washington. What will Pope Benedict XVI say to President Bush in private and what will he have to say to the rest of us on April 19 when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly? Speculation has been swirling in and out of Catholic circles as the date of the historic visit fast approaches. There will be ample time for the pope's flock of over sixty million Catholics in the United States to absorb his peerless theological reckonings and pastoral guidance. But the pope's visit is no closed-door affair, for Catholics only. No, this pope and former professor is coming here well aware that in United States, he will command a podium unlike any other to address the entire world. I am willing to venture that the substantial portion of his message will consist of a universal invitation to return to reason.

When you're trying to focus your attention, there's nothing worse than silly, needless distractions. Today at Mass, during the recitation of the Creed I could hear, amidst the unison of worshippers in attendance the dissenting voice of a lone woman…

I came to Rome three years ago to study Social Communication on what, I readily admit now, was something of an academic leap of faith. I have to confess that the rather lengthy title of my specialization (Institutional Social Communication…

Long before the radical pro-abortion movement surfaced in the 1960s and took up the banner of feminism, there existed in the United States a holy alliance of sorts between the feminist and pro-life movements. America's pioneers in the feminist cause,…

The great schism that divided Western Christendom into Catholic and Protestant camps had far-ranging consequences. Across Europe, religious and political leaders, at the local and national level, viewed their nation's religious association with Rome as a hindrance toward true independence…

Global warming is the latest cause célèbre for activist movie stars and politicians. Things sure change quickly as environmental doomsday scenarios morph from one generation, and extreme, to another. For all the apocalyptic forecasts of melted icecaps and flooded American metropolises…

In the back of Saint Peter's Basilica is a side altar that serves as the final resting place for Pope Saint Leo the Great, who reigned as Vicar of Christ from 440 until 461. As one would expect of a…

In the run-up to last November's mid-term elections, San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi frequently countered the charge that she was the embodiment of radical, West Coast liberalism by reminding the interlocutor that she was a "Catholic grandmother."

With her Party's…