The Perenniality of Christian Martyrdom
Before canonizations became centralized under the papacy, the most common factor that made a canonized saint of a Christian was what Catholic tradition refers to as odium fidei – hatred for the faith! After the so-called Edict of Milan in 313 AD which made Christianity the de-facto religion of the empire, sainthood came to be […]
Catholicism and the Political Order
When Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger was invited to address the Bundestag, the German Parliament, history was in the making. It was the first time in the history of the German nation that a Supreme Pontiff mounted the rostrum of the Reichstag Building in Berlin. What will Ratzinger say to these elected officials, comprised of mostly Catholics […]
Catholicism and Irrational Public Power
The Gospel of John opens with the enigmatic faith of the community of the beloved disciple: “In the beginning was the word.” (John 1:1). Catholic exegesis has often interpreted these terse words of John’s gospel in the light of the Genesis account of creation, in which the creative Word of YHWH brought forth order out […]
The Popes and the Jews
The April 27th twin canonizations of John XXIII and John Paul II have stimulated considerable activity in church historians and theologians. What unites these popes? What separates them? The responses are varied, consequent on the perspective chosen. This writer is convinced that a unifying factor between these two popes is their positive attitude toward the […]