Pope Leo XIV

  • Sexual morality is over-emphasised — Pope Leo

    Freedom of religion, equality, justice for men and women — these are the moral questions Pope Leo XIV says the church should be leading on. His pointed critique of the over-emphasis on sexual ethics echoes a growing frustration among Catholics who feel the tradition’s full moral vision has been narrowed and distorted.

    Sexual morality is over-emphasised — Pope Leo
  • How Iran broke Trump’s alliance with Catholic America

    At an Easter vigil for peace, Cardinal McElroy preached that the United States entered the Iran war by choice, not necessity, and failed to exhaust negotiation. He called both its initiation and continuation morally illegitimate.

    How Iran broke Trump’s alliance with Catholic America
  • Secret dinners and deal-making behind Pope Leo’s election

    Two new books detail how private dinners, diplomatic alliances and backroom conversations among cardinals shaped the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, revealing the conclave’s hidden power dynamics in unprecedented detail.

    Secret dinners and deal-making behind Pope Leo’s election
  • A passive voice is how we hide from the wars we choose

    We have constructed an entire vocabulary of evasion around war. Violence “erupts,” conflicts “spiral,” casualties get “reported” — all passive, all subjectless. Leo XIV punctures that fog by insisting someone chose this, restoring human agency and accountability to every act of destruction.

    A passive voice is how we hide from the wars we choose
  • God is not a weapon

    Pope Leo XIV’s Palm Sunday homily quoted Isaiah directly at those prosecuting the Iran offensive, saying God does not hear the prayers of those whose hands are full of blood. It was among the sharpest papal condemnations of an active military campaign in recent memory.

    God is not a weapon
  • Catholics and other Christians thanking God together: has the time come to change our practice?

    When Pope Francis visited Rome’s Lutheran church in 2015, he reframed the Eucharist not as a doctrinal reward but as sustenance for a pilgrim people. That shift in language was small but significant, opening theological space that had been closed for decades under two conservative popes.

    Catholics and other Christians thanking God together: has the time come to change our practice?
  • ‘We,’ not ‘I’: An Ohio archbishop called Catholics to talk their way to consensus

    Cincinnati’s Archbishop Robert G. Casey has announced a 2027 archdiocesan synod, making his diocese one of the very few in the United States to formally respond to the Vatican’s call for local synodal assemblies. His vision of leading with “we” rather than “I” is drawing attention well beyond Ohio.

    ‘We,’ not ‘I’: An Ohio archbishop called Catholics to talk their way to consensus
  • Interpreting Pope Leo on the Middle East

    Pope Leo has returned regularly to the Israel-US-Iran War in the Middle East in his public statements. He commented almost immediately after both Israel and the USA began their strikes on Iran and has maintained his focus on the topic. The Pope clearly prefers peace and diplomacy to war and aggression — his language about…

    Interpreting Pope Leo on the Middle East
  • Artificial intelligence as seen by two popes

    As artificial intelligence reshapes work, culture and decision-making, two pontificates converge on a deeper concern – not technological progress itself, but the risk of reducing human life to efficiency, calculation and control.

    Artificial intelligence as seen by two popes
  • Rethinking peace while facing modern signs of war

    Global military spending reached record highs as autonomous weaponry and AI changed the face of combat. These technologies erase moral responsibility. This is why modern advancements demand a re-evaluation of peace and a move away from tools that experts describe as small, cheap, and abundant.

    Rethinking peace while facing modern signs of war

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