Analysis and Comment
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Memory, melody and meaning: The rock star who refused to hide his faith
Bono — real name Paul David Hewson — is one of the few living Irishmen who can fill stadiums across continents and still be ridiculed like he’s your cousin showing off at a family wedding. In Ireland, we love to hate him. It’s practically a sport. The sneering, the eye rolls, the jokes about messiah…
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What happens when we outsource conscience to AI?
As AI is hailed as a cure-all, its creeping influence risks removing human judgment from critical areas like warfare and healthcare—where lives depend on nuance, not just code.
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Integrating Catholic and Native beliefs
Leaning behind the altar are twelve cross-shaped fruit-picking poles, fashioned from saguaro ribs. These tools reflect both the harvest and the cross — symbols of physical labour and spiritual connection deeply embedded in O’odham Catholic life.
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Vatican defends science amid global pushback
Calling for systemic change, the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences says governments must protect scientific independence and make evidence-based decisions, not bow to ideological pressures or conspiracy-driven narratives.
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India’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims isn’t a policy failure. It’s political scapegoating.
Detention camps across India hold hundreds of Rohingya refugees. Some detainees have been confined for over a decade. One couple had to bury their child while handcuffed—emblematic of the cruelty inflicted on this population.
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Church must engage culture, not oppose it
The Church should not be a subculture in conflict with society. Instead, it must infuse today’s world with the Gospel through inculturation. Opposition to modernity has only deepened secularisation and alienated key groups from faith, including the young and the working class.
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The Eucharist: Liturgy of unity or division?
The Eucharist is meant to unite, yet the Traditional Latin Mass continues to divide Catholics. Can the Church balance reverence for tradition with commitment to liturgical reform? Unity remains elusive as communities splinter along lines of language, nostalgia, and theological dissent.
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Was it moral to bomb Iran?
Aquinas and Augustine once offered frameworks to distinguish justified conflict from sin. Today, those teachings face new scrutiny as leaders weigh morality against national security in acts like the U.S.-Israel strike on Iran.
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The Church’s new mission field
Church history, Halík argues, should be seen not as decline but resurrection in motion. Christianity is still unfolding, and the “ever-greater Christ” continues to build an expansive church—not by numbers or land, but by stretching minds and hearts.
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Francis tipped Leo as his successor
Historian Andrea Riccardi speculated that Pope Francis may have envisioned Cardinal Prevost as his successor. Though unconfirmed, the close collaboration between the two figures and Prevost’s swift rise through the Church hierarchy add weight to the theory.
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