Pope Francis writes: With some exceptions, governments have made great efforts to put the well-being of their people first, acting decisively to protect health and to save lives. The exceptions have been some governments that shrugged off the painful evidence of mounting deaths, with inevitable, grievous consequences. But most governments acted responsibly, imposing strict measures… Read More In NY Times, Pope Calls on World to Respond to Crises with Solidarity

via CNN: Pope Francis has for the first time publicly named China’s Uyghur minority among a list of the world’s persecuted peoples, breaking his silence on allegations of widespread human rights abuses in the country’s far-western Xinjiang region. “I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya, the poor Uyghurs, the Yazidi — what ISIS did… Read More Pope Francis Speaks Out for the First Time on China’s Persecution of the Uyghurs

via Zach Lowe: In an unprecedented meeting, a delegation of five NBA players and several officials from the National Basketball Players Association met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday morning for a private audience to discuss their work on social justice issues. An assistant to Pope Francis reached out to the players’ association… Read More Pope Francis Meets with NBA Players to Discuss Social Justice

Highlights from Pope Francis in chapter 6 of Fratelli Tutti: Approaching, speaking, listening, looking at, coming to know and understand one another, and to find common ground: all these things are summed up in the one word “dialogue”. If we want to encounter and help one another, we have to dialogue. (198) We need constantly… Read More Pope Francis on Universal Values and Dialogue

Millennial Catholic Ellen Koneck writes: “He’s at peace,” the chorus of well-meaning Christians wrote in notecards and whispered in the days and weeks after my brother died. But such sentiment – even if true – didn’t, doesn’t work when facing down the dark abyss of death. “He’s in heaven now,” they asserted, as if it… Read More In the Face of Tragedy, We Can Do Better Than Throw-Pillow Theology

2017 Millennial of the Year Michael Wear writes: Joe Biden succeeded in his mission to end Donald Trump’s presidency, and he did so, in part, because of the wise, persistent and strategic way his campaign related to faith. This was not inevitable. Mr. Trump’s re-election effort, like his campaign in 2016, relied on his ability… Read More The Faithful Voters Who Helped Biden Win

Bill McCormick, S.J. writes: Do Americans have any appetite for reconciliation after this year’s tense election season? Should they? During the first week after the election, I interviewed several Catholic thought leaders with these questions in mind. They did not all agree on what our objectives should be, but there was a consensus that any… Read More A Time for Reconciliation?