Easter hope

Every Easter Sunday we commemorate Christ’s triumphant resurrection after He suffered and died on the cross to redeem us from sin and death. Easter’s underlying message therefore has always been one of joy because of God’s infinite love and mercy, and hope for life everlasting. This Easter however there is a resurgent and more intense [...]

The vehicular side of the Vatican

As the newly installed pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis will often be seen greeting the world from the back of a rather peculiar vehicle. It’s taken many shapes over the last three decades, but the classification is one we’ve become pretty accustomed to: the popemobile. More than half of the world’s population [...]

Pope Francis: Defend poor, weak

Tens of thousands, including sovereigns and representatives of 180 countries, witnessed the highly dramatic investiture of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday, as past, present and future converged for a Church seeking to go back to the basics of the Christian message in dealing with what its critics call a problem of relevance. [...]

Pope Francis against Rome

A cautiously bold move. Or, perhaps, a boldly cautious move. In choosing the Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the cardinals of the Catholic Church are trying to indicate that they are open and listening to calls for change, while hewing carefully to their traditions and the conservative doctrine of the past two Popes. We will [...]

Habent papam

Pope Francis was a popular archbishop of Buenos Aires, noted among other things for the simplicity of his lifestyle and his sympathy for the poor. It remains to be seen how that translates into the papacy. I am both annoyed and gratified by the adulation he has received for riding buses rather than limousines. It [...]

Tagle welcomes ‘extraordinary’ new pope

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the man many in Asia hoped to see as the next head of the Catholic Church, issued a glowing assessment in welcoming Pope Francis on Thursday. Calling the new pope an “extraordinary person,” Tagle thanked all those who had supported and prayed for the cardinals during this week’s conclave. “We never [...]

Choice of Pope Francis boosts Tagle’s future chances

As the doors of the Sistine Chapel closed with words the “extra omnes” (outside all) that evicted all outsiders, Asia’s best hope for Pope, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle joined the conclave carrying the prayers of millions of Filipino-Catholics and non-Catholics alike. If this were a race for the papacy, Tagle’s chances were seen to [...]

Tagle’s pope; Benedict vs the media

I haven’t finished reading Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle’s dissertation, a theological thriller titillatingly titled “Episcopal Collegiality and Vatican II: The Influence of Paul VI,” just yet, but one passage has struck me with the force of revelation. “But Paul VI also poignantly laid bare the irony at the heart of the papacy: the divinely instituted [...]

Will Asia rise to the Papal throne?

“Habemus papum!” From the grand, central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, that proclamation will soon be announced to the world once again. “We have a pope!” But when Benedict XVI’s successor and new shepherd of the global Catholic Church steps into the light, it’s seen as unlikely that he will come from [...]

Insignificance and irrelevance

Train cars in Japan often have screens that show travel information, ads and news headlines. On the morning of March 1, I was on a train and watched to see if there was anything about the retirement of Pope Benedict that had taken place that morning, Japan time. There was a notice that a men’s [...]

Papal conclave: Ancient ritual and high-tech security

There will be no tweeting the results of the papal election from inside the secret conclave: cardinals withdrawing to choose a new pope enter a world apart where ancient ritual meets high-tech security. Red-robed cardinals in all their finery chant to invoke God’s guidance as they process into the Sistine Chapel, which will be swept [...]

From crucifixes to bottle-openers: Memorabilia vendors prep for new pope

It is a significant event in world history, so what better way to commemorate the choosing of a new pope than with a decorative plate, or maybe a set of prayer cards and matching rosary beads? While officials at the Vatican began physical preparations for the papal conclave, including the installation on Saturday of the chimney [...]

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