Catholicism

How Pope Leo XIV is quietly reshaping the Vatican

On the afternoon of Easter Sunday last year, Pope Francis was driven through St. Peter’s Square in an open-topped Popemobile. A few weeks earlier he had nearly died from pneumonia, so pilgrims were thrilled to watch him blessing babies. They told journalists that it was a miracle to see the 88-year-old Argentinian in such good shape. At 9:45 the next morning, the Vatican announced that Francis had just died from a stroke. And so began the preparations for a conclave that elected the second pope from the Americas. Cardinal Robert Prevost – “Bob” to his friends – was a Chicago-born dual citizen of the United States and Peru. Until 2023

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How different is Catholic and Protestant food at Easter?

I’m a New York-raised Italian Catholic, and my family’s inherited religious-cultural neuroses inform our meals every bit as much as the WASPs next door. This is particularly true at Easter, where centuries of European immigration have shaped the culinary traditions in New York. The Easter feast became a religiously sanctioned opportunity to indulge For my family, the Easter feast typically includes a herb-crusted leg of lamb (American only; New Zealand lamb is far too gamey), deviled eggs, rich scalloped potatoes, honey-glazed carrots, some fresh spring vegetables and an absurdly decadent chocolate dessert – all washed down with a robust Etna Rosso, generously poured. While both Catholic and Protestant Easter traditions

Could military service become morally untenable for Catholics?

During his lengthy interview with the New York Times, President Trump was asked if there was anything that could check his power on the world stage. “Yeah, there is one thing,” he said. “My own morality. My own mind.” What are we to make of Trump’s morality? That’s between him and God, I suppose, and perhaps only the all-knowing could parse his mind. But it’s fair to wonder where morality factors into Trump’s foreign policy, and whether America’s moral justification of force has only ever been a convenient pretext for acting in our own interest.  At the World Economic Forum in Davos today, Trump said he “won’t use force” to take

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