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The papal style in rhetoric has ever favored the general over the particular, the timeless over the topical, and the abstract over the concrete. Benedict XVI’s April 18 address to the General Assembly of the United Nations proved no exception … More
David Gibson, author of THE RULE OF BENEDICT, discusses the differences between Pope Benedict XVI and John Paul II.
After Pope Benedict XVI met with leaders of different faiths at the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington Thursday evening (April 17), one rabbi flipped open his cell phone, dialed a number and, when connected to the other caller, … More
Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Pope Benedict XVI devoted most of his UN General Assembly speech to a philosophical explication of the moral foundations of human rights and of the UN itself. He called … More
At the UN Pope Benedict XVI reflected on human rights in a way that might seem general, but that could instantly be made concrete. His reference to “global inequality” pointed to a world where nearly a thousand million people are … More
We have a story today about two young men who grew up together best friends — one white, one black — and then took different religious paths. One became an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, the other a Muslim. Today they argue, of course, but as Betty Rollin reports, they’ve found their theological differences don’t matter nearly as much as friendship and laughter. More
In a live special report on the pope’s address to the United Nations Friday (April 18), RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY managing editor Kim Lawton and executive editor Bob Abernethy analyze the speech and how it amplifies key themes of Pope … More
Each year at Passover, a couple in Roseland, New Jersey invent new ways to dramatize and sing about the traditional story of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. They’ve become so good at it and have so much fun there’s now a waiting list of their friends who want to come. More
Today Pope Benedict XVI, like his predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II (twice), made a religious-political pilgrimage to the United Nations. The Catholic Church, which suffered greatly from both Catholic and Protestant nationalisms of the Westphalian system of sovereign … More
UN Photo/Mark Garten The pope offered a vision of a world in which faith can draw the world’s peoples and cultures together instead of pushing them apart. Not because all people share a common faith, or even through the common … More