Quotation of the week: “the myopic culture that I came from — less than 0.002 percent of the world population, by the way — was trying to put chicken wire around a God of infinite magnitude.” A Mormon father and his son share their wisdom as we welcome you to our weekly examination of news and commentary at the nexus of faith, society and politics. Sources of all items are identified; inclusion on this website does not mean AUSCP endorsement.
Pope Leo XIV
In first major European trip, pope’s Spain visit will touch on polarization and migration. From National Catholic Reporter.
In case you haven’t read the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, one section finds that the pope calls just war theory “outdated.” Leo writes, “Today, more than ever, without prejudice to the right to self-defense in the strictest sense, it is important to reaffirm that the ‘just war’ theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated.” From Religion News Service.
Chicago’s mayor sees Pope Leo XIV as a key ally on social justice and migration. The mayor said it was comforting to know that someone who comes from the city of Chicago “can speak to justice” and defend “the most vulnerable among us.” From Religion News Service.
ANALYSIS: The Second Consistory of Leo XIV. The National Catholic Register examines Sunday’s event (May 31). “The extraordinary consistory can include the creation of new cardinals, but it can also be a consistory for discussion.”
Pope Leo XIV has appointed EWTN news president to lead Vatican Communications Department. Montserrat Alvarado becomes the first lay woman appointed prefect of a dicastery of the Holy See. From National Catholic Register.
NCR Columnist Michael Sean Winters says Pope Leo’s teaching on key economic issues is clear. Will he make the Church’s own structures conform to that teaching?
Bad Bunny wants to meet Pope Leo XIV. Leo and Bad Bunny may seem unlikely candidates for a shared stage, but with both the pontiff and the Puerto Rican pop star set to draw huge crowds in Madrid next week, church and city officials say a meeting — or at least a live video link — is possible.
Justice Bulletin Board
Barbara Molinari Quinby reflects on the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. “So let us burn the brushwood. . .of prejudice, mistrust, and separation. We all have far more in common than we think.”
ICE matters
Amid protests at Delaney Hall in Newark, N.J., a Catholic nun has been offering “radical hospitality.” National Catholic Reporter published the story about Sister Susan Francois, who has volunteered at the “Radical Hospitality” tent outside Delaney Hall, bearing witness and ministering to families and friends visiting detainees.
OPINION Congress must choose accountability and human dignity over more ICE funding. Instead of demanding accountability before approving more funding, Congress is poised to deepen its investment in the very systems generating widespread alarm. From Religion News Service.
AI biases
Most popular artificial intelligence models are biased toward Catholicism and against a number of other religious traditions when asked about converting to a faith, according to new research assembled by a group of religious colleges. From Religion News Service.
Opinion writer Phyllis Zagano identifies “A Catholic solution to gender bias in AI.” She says most of the programmers teaching AI to “think” are men. “One can only hope that the views of women will be added to the equation.” From Religion News Service.
US Aid to Cuba
Trump administration pledges $100M in aid for Cuba, but only if Catholic or other faith-based groups distribute it. Religion News Service reports the timing of the offer was thorny because it coincided with the US indictment of former Cuban President Raúl Castro.
‘Demonizing’ Trump? Or standing with the poor
OPINION from Christopher Hale: “Bishop Barron claims the Left wants to ‘Demonize’ Trump. Standing with the poor Is not Demonization — It Is the Faith.”
Mainline Protestantism declines; Union Theological Seminary thrives
As seminaries shuttered, Union grew. For its president, Serene Jones, controversy was the price of survival. Jones is stepping down as president after 18 years. Her tenure has been defined by difficult, sometimes unpopular decisions that helped stabilize the institution even as mainline Protestantism declines. From Religion News Service.
COMMENTARY: As Stephen Colbert signs off, America loses a prophet
A writer for Religion News Service says comedians are doing some of the most serious moral work in America right now.
OPINION ‘Blessed is the one who resists’
Writer Nicole Wiesen, at Baptist News Global, says America now stands at a crossroads where faith, fear, political identity and power have become dangerously entangled.
OPINION: Democracy is built on restraint not perfection
No person or group is morally pure enough to govern without restraint, and no person or group is wise enough to define the whole of the common good. Because of that, democracy is built on restraint rather than perfection. From Baptist News Global, this is the first in a series of articles on Christianity and democracy that will lead toward the July 4 celebration of America’s 250th birthday.
Most US Christians have heard clergy address controversial topics
Most people who attend religious services regularly have heard clergy speak on at least one social or political issue in recent months, according to a new survey by Pew Research. Abortion, homosexuality and Israel are the most commonly mentioned topics, according to Baptist News Global.
ESSAY: Has worship become a luxury good?
As working-class stability erodes, congregations are quietly remaking themselves in the image of the middle class. From the Christian Century.
‘I’m mourning the end of the Voting Rights Act’
For the Christian Century, commentator Peter W. Marty asks, “Why shred this law when Congress is still disproportionately White and segregation is still endemic?”
Always about ‘more than ordination’
National Catholic Reporter covers the 50th anniversary celebration of the Women’s Ordination Conference.
Islam observes Eid
The National Catholic Register, writing May 27, comments, “Today is Eid al-Adha, the major Muslim holiday commemorating Abraham’s devotion to God.” The writer concludes, “Islam is a mixture of affirming, as well as denying, those truths that compose the Truth.”
Religion News Service offers a commentary on the sacred cloth at the center of the Hajj pilgrimage. “As millions gather for Hajj, they will circle the Kaaba, which is draped in the black cloth known as the kiswah – a sacred object shaped by centuries of faith, politics and power.”
What is Augustinian spirituality?
A priest (and friend of Pope Leo) explains, in an article from National Catholic Reporter.
Religious freedom, seriously
Why does a Catholic political activist want the left to take religious freedom more seriously? From National Catholic Reporter.
Faith and basketball
With pregame invocations and cheering nuns, NBA playoff teams embrace faith. From National Catholic Reporter.
FEATURE: A Mormon father and his gay son
Filmmaker and musician Michael McLean denied for years that his son Jeff might be gay. But today, their relationship has not only survived but thrived. A new book shares the ups and downs of their journey. Son Jeff describes “the myopic culture that I came from — less than 0.002 percent of the world population, by the way — was trying to put chicken wire around a God of infinite magnitude.”
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