The Incarnational Principle of Divine Love: The Preferential Option for the...
A number of years ago, as I was trying to finalize my dissertation proposal at a large Catholic university, I ran into some problems. My topic was the preferential option for the poor and U.S....
View ArticlePope Francis and the Ongoing Dialogue of Liberation Theology
This is the third of four posts in a Symposium on Pope Francis and Liberation Theology. The earlier posts can be found here and here. Subsequent posts will be published each Friday. The election of...
View ArticleValues, Paradigms, and Convictions: Assessing Recent Catholic Sociopolitical...
On November 30, 2013, Ross Douthat offered a thoughtful reflection in the New York Times entitled “The Pope and the Right” in which he considered how politically and economically conservative U.S....
View ArticlePope Francis’ Invocation to Peace – Ramón Luzárraga
One way to appreciate the enormity of the project of Middle East peace, and the implacable nature of the parties involved, is to study the British Mandate of Palestine. It began with the 1917 capture...
View ArticleCapital in the Twenty-First Century (1/2): A Rich New Resource on Inequality...
Despite its intimidating size and scope, Capital has the potential to be extremely helpful to scholars and activists concerned with inequality, and I hope to convince at least a few readers of...
View ArticleBlessed Romero?: Pope Francis, Liberation Theology, and Beatification
During his recent trip to Asia, Pope Francis raised the hopes of many Catholics by suggesting that the beatification of Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador killed in 1980 by an assassin for...
View ArticleThe Invisible Woman, or, Why We Should Take Pope Francis’ Call for a Theology...
In August 2013, on his way back to Rome after the World Youth Day in Brazil, Pope Francis famously told a reporter: We talk about whether [women] can do this or that: Can they be altar boys? Can they...
View ArticleChurch Authority and Assent: Clarifications Ahead of Pope Francis’s Encyclical
The church has known for the last year that Pope Francis is working on an encyclical about ecology. Until recently, this awareness has generally only been discussed by those who regularly work on...
View ArticleAd Majorem Dei Gloriam: Catholic, Jesuit Schools and Pope Francis’ Ecological...
On Friday March 20, I had the opportunity to present a talk titled “Jesuit Schools and the Jesuit Pope: How Jesuit Colleges Can Respond to Pope Francis’ Ecological Message” at Loyola University...
View ArticlePope Francis Will Not Write an Environment Encyclical
No, I do not have insider information from the Vatican that Pope Francis’s anticipated encyclical on the environment (reportedly entitled Laudato Sii) has been scrapped. Indeed, the Vatican has...
View ArticleLaudato Si: Appealing to Our Better Natures – Daniel P. Scheid
Already there are a multitude of excellent summaries of Pope Francis’s new encyclical Laudato Si, highlighting how he understands our need for a “bold cultural revolution,” explains integral ecology,...
View ArticleLaudato Si’: Participatory Action for the Common Good – Cristina Richie
The weeks and months leading up to the promulgation of Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home were spiked with excitement, speculation, and even a scandalous leak of the encyclical. Non-Catholics,...
View ArticleVatican Palestinian Pact and Environmental Encyclical Signal New Alliance...
Toward the end of last month the Roman Catholic Church signed an agreement with the Palestinian Authority recognizing a Palestinian State and calling for a “two state” solution to the Arab-Israeli...
View ArticleFeminism and the Politics of “Our Common Home” (Greg Williams)
“[A] feminist perspective on the commons is important because it begins with the realization that, as the primary subjects of reproductive work, historically and in our time, women have depended on...
View ArticlePope Francis on Carbon Credits: Analysis of Laudato Si’ 171
Nearly one month after the release of Laudato Si’ (LS’), most commentators – myself included – are still trying to wrap their minds around the prophetic, difficult and sometimes unexpected elements of...
View ArticleHow Francis is Making Catholic Social Doctrine into Catholic Social Praxis –...
In assessing the dynamics of the Catholic Church’s social doctrine, Russell Hittinger has noted that the “tradition is not only multi-disciplinary, but internally multi-faceted as one pope introduces...
View ArticlePT 16.5 Guest Editorial: Laudato Si’: Rethinking Politics (Anna Rowlands)
“Climate scientists do not appreciate that their science represents a politics. They are surprised to be called lobbyists by climate denialists when they are simply reporting on climate models and...
View ArticleWhat Sort of Person Do I Want To Be?: A Virtue Ethics Analysis of Pope...
There is no shortage of content analyzing the speeches Pope Francis has given so far during his visit to the United States. It is certainly a worthy endeavor to examine the political implications of...
View ArticleDamage Done? Another Look at Kim Davis and the Pope
A fifteen-minute glad-handing has overshadowed Pope Francis’ US visit and the Vatican Synod on the Family, but the responses indicate the damage may not be permanent. Over the past week or so,...
View ArticlePoliticizing Hospitality, Hospitalizing Politics: Pope Francis’s...
In the in-flight press conference on his journey back to Rome, Pope Francis noted that one of the most surprising aspects of his first visit to the United States “was the warmth, the warmth of the...
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