Correction: In my Letter #21 of August 10, entitled "Again, the Council," I identified the well-known American Franciscan Capuchin theologian Father Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap., in the opening caption as a "Dominican." Dozens of readers quickly sent in a correction: Weinandy is not a Dominican, but a Franciscan Capuchin. I apologize to Father Weinandy and [...]
May 15, 2017, Monday "I saw that American leaders wanted to cooperate with Russia.”—The influential Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, the Oxford-educated "Foreign Minister" of the increasingly powerful Russian Orthodox Church, in an interview published today on the website of the Russian Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate. The interview follows Hilarion's four-day trip to Washington D.C. to participate [...]
March 27, 2017, Monday -- A Communist Ecumenist? Zyuganov on the Split between Eastern and Western Christianity I have been trying to drive home one fundamental point for more than 20 years now, both in the pages of Inside the Vatican magazine, and in the work of the Urbi et Orbi Foundation which seeks to "build [...]
January 31, 2017, Tuesday -- "The flower of mankind" "Our forefathers... were able to bequeath to us a Church and a civilization that really is the flower of mankind." — Steve Bannon, top advisor to US President Donal Trump, in 2014, speaking from Los Angeles to a Vatican conference on global poverty and on how best [...]
October 18, 2016, Tuesday - Vatican Pravda? "With an article worthy of Pravda, the Vatican Insider website today presents its readers the equation 'traditionalist Catholic' = 'enemy of Bergoglio' = 'lover of Putin.'" —Francesco Colafemmina, an Italian Catholic philologist with a love for sacred art and architecture (link). In a new article entitled "Vatikan Pravda," Colafemmina [...]
May 5, 2016, Thursday -- A Russian Concert in Palmyra, Syria, Contains a Message to the West The Diplomacy of Music As I write this, a renowned Russian conductor is conducting an orchestral concert called "Prayer for Palmyra: Music Revives Ancient Ruins" in the ruins of the ancient desert city of Palmyra in war-torn Syria. As [...]
April 6, 2016, Wednesday -- A Religious "Off-Ramp" for Ukraine? US Ambassador Pyatt Visits Rome An American official has made a quiet, important visit to the Vatican to discuss the situation in Ukraine. In a visit that has received no press attention up until now, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt (photo) was in Rome [...]
June 28, 2015, Sunday — Pope-Patriarch Meeting "On Agenda," Hilarion Says Are Rome and Moscow growing closer, despite US-led Western efforts to isolate Russia with recently renewed economic sanctions? A new interview published this morning in Italy suggests strongly that the answer is "Yes." Following a lightning visit three weeks ago (June 10) of Russian president [...]
June 10, 2015, Wednesday — Putin and Pope Francis President Putin came to Pope Francis this evening to speak about possible pathways to peace in Ukraine and the Middle East. Putin, who had been in Milan in northern Italy at a major international exposition on food worldwide, arrived a little after 6 p.m. -- about an [...]
A Personal Invitation from Dr. Robert Moynihan: Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has asked to be received in audience by Pope Francis in two days, on Wednesday, June 10, and Pope Francis has agreed to the meeting. What is the purpose of this unexpected encounter? No information has yet been made public, but we know that it [...]
