FaithVatican Dispatch

Rediscovering the great Jesuit missionary to China: Matteo Ricci

Gerard O’ConnellNovember 19, 2024

An illustration depicts Jesuit Father Matteo Ricci in traditional Chinese clothing. The 16th-century missionary to China is well known by the country's Catholics. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec) 

On Friday, Nov. 15, the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome hosted an international conference on Matteo Ricci, the famous 16th-century Jesuit missionary to China and one of the university’s most famous alumni.

The conference, titled “Matteo Ricci: A Heritage of Friendship, Dialogue and Peace,” not only looked back to the 16th century, revisiting the life and mission of Ricci in China; it also reviewed developments in Rome and China over the past 40 years that witnessed what one might call a rediscovery—or certainly a re-evaluation—by the church of the Jesuit missionary’s contribution to evangelization and Christianity in China.

Nicaraguan regime expels bishops’ conference president

 

Nicaraguan regime expels bishops’ conference president

Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera is the third bishop to be expelled by Daniel Ortega’s regime this year. Nicaragua’s Sandinista government...

 The Tablet

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Risking the Questions podcast: Struggle as the pathway to hope

 

Risking the Questions podcast: Struggle as the pathway to hope

Tom Roberts, Joan Chittister  ncr

Europe's divided church confronts challenge of Vatican synod

 

November 20, 2024

Europe's divided church confronts challenge of Vatican synod

Jonathan Luxmoore  ncr

 

Politics & SocietyInterviews

Interview: E.J. Dionne on the Catholic vote and the future of Catholic politics

Connor HartiganNovember 18, 2024

E.J. Dionne of Georgetown University speaks Sept. 11, 2024, as a panelist at a public dialogue on "Faith and the Faithful and the 2024 Presidential Election: Political Realities and Catholic Social Teaching" at Georgetown University in Washington. (OSV News photo/courtesy of Georgetown University, Leslie E. Kossoff)

For decades, E. J. Dionne has studied the intersection of religion and American politics, with a particular focus on Catholic engagement in the political arena, as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and as a columnist for the Washington Post. During my final semester at Georgetown University, I had the opportunity to take a course on religion and the future of American democracy with Professor Dionne. Following the presidential election, I spoke with him about the impact of the Catholic vote—which, according to a CNN exit poll, favored President-elect Donald Trump by 58 percent—and possible paths forward for Catholics in both major parties. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

Back in 2000, you famously wrote in a piece for the Brookings Institution that “there is no Catholic vote, and yet, it matters.” Do you think this is still true in 2024, or can we speak of a unified Catholic vote now? 

FaithFaith in Focus

The synod was serious business. But there were also laughs along the way.

James Martin, S.J.November 18, 2024

Members of Table 25 laugh after rushing to take a photo with Pope Francis on the final day of the Synod of Bishops in the Paul VI Aula (Vatican News)

Editor’s note: Join James Martin, S.J., America’s Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell, and “Inside the Vatican” host Colleen Dulle for a special, subscriber-only Zoom event on the synod, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 5:30 p.m. EST. Learn more here.

The final document of the Synod on Synodality is one of the most important documents to come out of the church during the pontificate of Pope Francis. But it’s not exactly a laugh riot. During a recent press conference in Rome, Thomas J. Reese, S.J., the former editor in chief of America and now a columnist for Religion News Service, posed this question to synod leaders: If theologians are in charge of writing the document, how will you keep it from being boring?

It is a beautiful document that has the potential to change the way the church governs itself. And it accurately reflects the discernment of us delegates over the past two years. But it doesn’t, and frankly couldn’t, reflect the more amusing goings-on in the Paul VI Aula in October 2023 and 2024. When you bring together cardinals, patriarchs, bishops (arch and otherwise), priests, religious men and women, and lay men and women, who are not only committed Catholics but also well educated and astute observers of the church, there are bound to be a few lighthearted moments.

 

Another Catholic in the White House

The conversions of J. D. Vance

Paul Baumann

November 19, 2024

U.S. Vice President-elect JD Vance gestures as he attends a rally October 5, 2024, for now President-elect Donald Trump (OSV News photo/Carlos Barria, Reuters).

One politician often described as a liberal Catholic is leaving the White House, and another politician, a convert who describes himself as a conservative Catholic, is moving in (at least to the West Wing). What might J. D. Vance’s ascendency to the vice presidency tell us about American Catholicism, and how should Catholics understand this shift in the likely public perception of the faith? How do liberal and conservative Catholics reconcile their faith and their politics?