The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has just released its 2016 Annual Report, which confirms that the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria constitutes genocide. The report states, “ISIL’s summary executions, rape, sexual enslavement, abduction of children, destruction of…
We strongly urge Secretary Kerry to listen to the bipartisan voices voting today in support of the Fortenberry-Eshoo resolution (H. Con. Res. 75). Secretary Kerry should heed the calls of a growing international coalition of genocide scholars, The European Parliament, Pope Francis, the previous Secretary…
Recent violence in Paris and now Mali has set off a storm of anxious discussion and disagreement about how best to help the Syrian refugees. The arguments rage on TV between pundits and politicians, but also across American dinner tables, with people of good faith…
As a radiologist in Miami, working mainly with a lower income population, many of my female ultrasound patients are young women recently arrived from Cuba. It breaks my heart to meet these wonderful women with slightly tortured yet musical names starting with Y, such…
Yes, the pope believes there’s solid scientific consensus supporting the theory of climate change. In his new encyclical, “Laudato Si,” he covers that in a few terse paragraphs. But the encyclical is so much more than that. It’s beautiful and thought-provoking, coming at the question…
This weekend I met a Spanish missionary who has for the last three years been working in Bolivia, primarily with homeless orphan children and teenagers. We had a fascinating discussion about Pope Francis and his upcoming visit to the United States which helped to clarify…
Just days after the Vatican was credited for its critical role in brokering a historic diplomatic deal between the United States and Cuba, some experts say the church’s intervention was not simply an act of good will but something that could promote democratic changes on…
It was a perfect storm. Confusion, tension, and even a sense of crisis during the Synod on the Family on this side of the Atlantic, and I can tell you the atmosphere on the ground in Rome was even more fraught. Milling around outside the…
Gay people have “gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community,” according to a Vatican report released Monday that stunned both LGBT advocates and traditional marriage proponents with its “welcoming” language. The report, a midterm summary of this month’s Extraordinary Synod of Bishops, stopped…
Catholic leaders will begin discussing this weekend a host of family-related matters, including same-sex marriage, birth control and other pressing issues in an ever-changing world. Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, who is attending the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, said…
