religion

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When pope's hold quick gaggles with reporters, strange things can happen

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When pope's hold quick gaggles with reporters, strange things can happen

As Pope Leo XIV left his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, a circle of reporters pressed forward.

Early in his pontificate, Leo has been cautious with the press. But after some comments in Italian, he agreed to "one question" from the EWTN network. It focused on Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich's decision to honor U.S. Senator Dick Durbin with a lifetime achievement award.

The problem: Durbin consistently backs abortion rights and remains barred from receiving Holy Communion in Springfield, Illinois, his home diocese. The senator has since declined the honor.

In English, Leo stressed looking at a politician's "overall work." The Chicago-born pope added: "Someone who says, 'I am against abortion,' but says, 'I am in favor of the death penalty' is not really pro-life. Someone who says that 'I am against abortion, but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States,' I don't know if that's pro-life. So, they're very complex issues."

What happened next was totally predictable.

"The Catholic right has been divided between those inclined to try to explain away the pope's language, and those insisting he was just flat wrong," wrote Crux editor John L. Allen, Jr. "The American Catholic left, meanwhile, has been gripped by a paroxysm of delight."

It's one thing that didn't happen -- with "all the polarization in social media, instant news and even fake news" -- was a clear statement by Pope Leo XIV about these complex doctrinal issues, said Amy Welborn, a popular Catholic blogger since 2001.

"Popes should not do press conferences or drive-by press gaggles – never, ever," she said, reached by telephone. In fact, popes should avoid all hasty statements on politics and public events. It would be safer for Leo to discuss his tennis game, she added.

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Erika Kirk and the message behind the St. Michael's cross she gave to her husband

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Erika Kirk and the message behind the St. Michael's cross she gave to her husband

Soon after she began dating Charlie Kirk, Erika Frantzve -- a devout Catholic -- asked him: "Why don't you wear a cross?"

Kirk's response: "I'm not a jewelry guy." She gave him a St. Michael's Cross, which he started wearing as "he felt the weight of the world on him," Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet told Fox News. "He never took it off again, until he was assassinated and the people caring for him ripped it off as they tried to save his life."

The St. Michael's prayer, written in 1898 by Pope Leo XIII, describes fierce warfare between good and evil: "St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. … By the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls."

Erika Kirk wore that blood-stained pendant during the September 21 memorial service in State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona -- with an estimated 100,000 people inside and thousands gathered nearby. At least 20 million watched on Fox, X and YouTube, with many more using other simulcasts.

In her 30-minute testimony, she said her husband knew his life was in danger, but he stressed the biblical message in a verse from Isaiah: "Here I am, Lord. Send me."

Kirk said she once told him: "Charlie, baby, please talk to me next time before you say that. … When you say, 'Here I am, Lord. Use me,' God will take you up on that.' … God accepted that total surrender from my husband and then called him to His side."

Erika Kirk's address dominated an event that featured President Donald Trump and multiple cabinet members. While praising what Kirk achieved in his 31-year life, several shared how his death has pushed them to ponder their own beliefs.

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When Charlie Kirk sat down with Bill Maher and discussed the importance of Easter

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When Charlie Kirk sat down with Bill Maher and discussed the importance of Easter

Offered a choice, Charlie Kirk would have preferred not to enter a marijuana cloud to discuss theology, politics, science and the dangers of free speech.

But the Turning Point USA activist -- assassinated on September 10 at Utah Valley University -- had welcomed the opportunity to join comic Bill Maher on the "Club Random" podcast that aired this past Easter.

"Bill treated me great. … He was very pleasant, albeit at times rather crude," said Kirk, in an online commentary about the show. However, he quipped, if football players have to "play in the snow," then a "political commentator fighting for Jesus" needs to "play in the weed."

Maher was shaken by Kirk's bloody death. On his "Real Time" show days later, the religious agnostic and political liberal said: "I like everybody. … But he was shot under a banner that said, 'Prove me wrong,' because he was a debater, and too many people think that the way to do that -- to prove you wrong -- is to just eliminate you from talking altogether. So, the people who mocked his death or justified it, I think you're gross. I have no use for you."

Both men worked with security teams, due to death threats. Kirk described his calling with variations on this: "When people stop talking, really bad stuff starts. … What we as a culture have to get back to is being able to have a reasonable disagreement where violence is not an option."

In addition to discussing the potency of modernized marijuana, Kirk and Maher veered from science debates about gender dysphoria to the origins of ultimate truth, from Hollywood trust-fund "nepo babies" to myriad battles surrounding Kirk's friend, President Donald Trump.

The "real fun" began, said Kirk, with complex issues defined by Maher's "Religulous," a scathing critique of religious faith. Kirk knew the book inside out.

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What is "success" for modern pastors working in a stressful ministry marketplace?

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What is "success" for modern pastors working in a stressful ministry marketplace?

Every decade or so, perhaps during a global pandemic, it's common to see news reports about pastors leaving pulpits in search of less stressful work.

Consider the 2024 Hartford Institute for Religion Research poll in which more than half of pastors said they have, at some point, seriously considered quitting, with 10% admitting this often crossed their minds. According to 2022 polling by the Barna Institute, the main causes for anxiety were strong job stress (56%), feeling isolated (43%) and current political tensions (38%).

These reports are sobering, but complex, noted Ryan Burge of the Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. But it's important to note the other side of the equation, when studying how clergy view their work. Five years ago, the National Survey of Religious leaders found that, when asked if "in most ways" their lives were ideal, 21% of pastors "completely" agreed, 50% said "moderately" and 16% “slightly." Only 1% "completely" disagreed and 2% said "moderately."

"The long and short of it was this -- I can't find another population group that scores higher on this metric than clergy," noted Burge, on his Graphs about Religion website. In fact, "I'm pretty confident in saying that clergy seemed pretty content with their station in life (or at least this was the case before the pandemic)."

No one doubts that pastors face significant stress, said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. The key is whether clergy and laity have clear understandings about what is expected from pastors and their families.

For example, what does the word "success" mean? Is that defined by growth in the congregation's size, as well as its facilities, staff and budget?

Lifeway has done a number of surveys on topics related to the life of pastors and, for most, "success" means "they are seeing lives changed, people following Christ more closely, troubling sins being avoided, people serving the Lord in ways that they have not done before," said McConnell, reached by telephone. "I think most pastors see some of that every year, but they always want to see more."

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The Rev. Bill Moyers clashed, early and often, with religion gaps in major newsrooms

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The Rev. Bill Moyers clashed, early and often, with religion gaps in major newsrooms

The year was 1976 and Jimmy Carter, a Sunday school teacher from Georgia, had shocked major newsrooms by discussing his "born again" faith.

Presidential candidates were not supposed to do things like that.

At CBS News, special correspondent Bill Moyers received a green light for a prime-time feature, "What It Means to be Born Again." After seeing the finished piece, a network executive pulled Moyers aside to chat.

The man's face was so serious, "that I thought he was about to tell me he'd been born again," Moyers told me in 1987. No, the executive said: "That was the worst show I have ever seen in my life."

The program was "cut to bits," Moyers said. Network leaders "didn't think it was news. They just didn't understand what was going on."

The broadcaster faced this disconnect many times. Moyers died on June 24 at the age of 91, after a long and complex career in which he served as speech writer and press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson, followed by decades of work with CBS, NBC and PBS. However, before that, the Rev. Bill Moyers was a Southern Baptist pastor in Texas towns like Brandon and Weir. He was proud of those roots and his convictions as a progressive Baptist.

"By no means is Moyers a typical Southern Baptist," I noted, in a 1993 "On Religion" column. "He is the rare Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate whose books and tapes are popular at New Age conventions. He is a hero wherever there are Baptists whose annual donations to National Public Radio are greater than their gifts to Focus on the Family."

Preaching before the first presidential inauguration of Bill Clinton, another Baptist progressive, Moyers got down to basics, sharing a saying passed on by his father -- Cain and Abel were "the first Baptists because they introduced fratricide" to the biblical drama.

At the heart of Baptist life "is what we call soul competency," he explained.

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Parsing the words of an emerging "pope able" cardinal from Jerusalem

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Parsing the words of an emerging "pope able" cardinal from Jerusalem

In the spring of 2023, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem addressed a conference about a dizzyingly complex subject -- Christianity in the ancient Middle East, as well as the future of its many churches and traditions.

This included Catholic interactions with Judaism and Islam, as well as trends in a region shaped by "extreme secularism and religious fundamentalism," noted Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa (.pdf here). Also, he stressed that Catholic leaders must grasp that the faith of many believers "no longer has deep roots," even in ancient churches.

"Their Christianity … is often a Christianity of identity, of tradition," said Pizzaballa, who has served for decades in the Holy Land. "We can no longer be satisfied with the Sunday presence of our faithful. It no longer has the strength to counter the tsunami of globalized secularism, which enters, through the Internet or other forms, even in the Bedouin tents or in the most remote villages."

In some ways, the faith "identity" found in the fragile Middle East is stronger than in many Western cultures, he said. But it's no longer acceptable to say, "Well at least it's not like Europe!" and move on.

Later that year, Pope Francis elevated Pizzaballa into the College of Cardinals -- the first cardinal residing in the modern State of Israel.

When the Latin Patriarch heard the Easter Monday news about the death of Pope Francis, he packed his bags. As he departed to Rome, his coworkers sang, in Arabic: "May the Lord guide your steps with His wisdom, fill your heart with His spirit, and be with you if it's His prayer that you should lead His church."

Since then, the cardinal's name has been included in almost every list -- in secular and Catholic media -- of "papabile," or "pope able" -- candidates to fill the Chair of Saint Peter.

Thus, journalists and church insiders have dissected sermons and addresses by Pizzaballa and other popular "papabile," searching for clues about their stands on doctrine, worship and pastoral issues in the wake of the tumultuous Francis papacy. It doesn't hurt that the 60-year-old cardinal -- that's young for a papabile -- has a colorful name, which can be translated as "Peter the baptizer" plus "pizza dancer," as well as family ties to an Italian soccer star.

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Puzzle: Many Catholic churches are in rapid decline, while others are booming

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Puzzle: Many Catholic churches are in rapid decline, while others are booming

For a century, there was one certainty in France -- the population was 97% Catholic.

That changed in the 1960s, with survey numbers spiraling to the current plateau of 25%, while the "religiously unaffiliated" numbers in France soared to 53%.

Thus, it made headlines when the French Bishops Conference announced that 10,384 adults joined the church this Easter, a 45% increase over 2024. The sharpest rise in conversions was among students and young people, representing 42% of the adult catechumens.

Truth is, many parishes in Europe are growing. But others are dying. As one theologian noted in a 1969 German radio interview, Catholicism was entering a time of painful decline in the modern world. But that was not the end of the story. Easter follows Good Friday.

"From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge -- a Church that has lost much," warned Father Joseph Ratzinger. "She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. … In contrast to an earlier age, it will be seen much more as a voluntary society, entered only by free decision. As a small society, it will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members."

This was, of course, the man who became Pope Benedict XVI, explained Pope Francis, during a 2022 meeting with his fellow Jesuits.

"Pope Benedict was a prophet of this Church of the future, a Church that will become … more humble and authentic and find energy for the essential," said Pope Francis, who died of a stroke on the Monday after Easter. His predecessor predicted the coming of a "Church that is more spiritual, poorer and less political: a Church of the little ones."

This Easter, large numbers of converts swimming the Tiber also made headlines in England, with The Daily Telegraph noting “The Extraordinary Resurgence of the Catholic Faith in Britain” while a report at The Times said, "“Catholics Outnumber Anglicans Two to One Among Gen Z Churchgoers.”

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What is an "Easter" movie? For some reason, that question is a bit of a puzzle

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What is an "Easter" movie? For some reason, that question is a bit of a puzzle

For more than 50 years ABC, with very few exceptions, has offered "The Ten Commandments" as the network's featured film for Holy Week.

Nothing says "Easter" like a showdown between Moses, the 13th Century Hebrew prophet, and the pharaoh Ramses the Great and the gods of Egypt.

"Why is The Ten Commandments an Easter movie? Part of me thinks they play it because people think it's a generic Christian movie," said Joe Wilson, one of the writers behind the "100 Movies Every Catholic Should See" website. "Digging deeper, you could make an argument for Moses as a messiah figure leading the Israelites out of Egypt into a kind baptism and resurrection, with their march through the Red Sea."

Director Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 classic -- with Charlton Heston as Moses -- is a biblical epic appealing to Judeo-Christian audiences. It's perfect for the Jewish Passover season that falls close to Easter, or Pascha on the ancient calendar of the Eastern churches. This is a year when Easter and Pascha fall on the same Sunday.

It is interesting, noted Wilson, that major networks have not, through the years, aired movies with traditional depictions of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, such as "The King of Kings." NBC has created "Jesus Christ Superstar Live!", the network's hip take on the popular, but also controversial, musical.

Easter movies often appear on cable channels, such as Turner Classic Movies offering "The Greatest Story Ever Told." Other options have included the four-part "Jesus of Nazareth" series directed by Franco Zeffirelli or the movie version of the musical "Godspell." It would certainly be controversial to feature Mel Gibson's R-rated "The Passion of the Christ" on basic cable, even the version without its most violent images.

Perhaps, said Wilson, a network should show "something like 'Ben-Hur.' That's another classic, also with Charlton Heston, and it contains some Holy Week imagery -- although it doesn't show the resurrection."

This Easter movie puzzle is a perfect demonstration of why feature films are so important in American culture. However, what many viewers will consider a classic movie may be considered second-rate or even scandalous to others.

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A bridge between Ash Wednesday and Easter: Most Americans do not 'get' Lent

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A bridge between Ash Wednesday and Easter: Most Americans do not 'get' Lent

When it comes to pulling Catholics into pews, Christmas rites top the list -- followed by a tie between Easter, the Christian calendar's most joyous day, and Ash Wednesday, which is the most sobering.

Last year, 51% of U.S. Catholics attended Mass on Easter, the same percentage as Ash Wednesday, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Christmas drew 68%.

The bridge between Ash Wednesday and Easter is the penitential season of Lent.

"Participating in Ash Wednesday which leaves a black cross on the forehead is one way for Catholics to identify themselves publicly and to express pride in their religious tradition," noted Father James J. Bacik, writing for the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests. "It is also a way of indicating an intention to take Lent seriously."

Ash Wednesday services have, in recent decades, become common in some Protestant denominations. But what about Lent?

Lent is "not on the radar" for most Americans, according to a new Lifeway Research study focusing on Catholics, Protestants and the unchurched. One in four participants in the survey (26%) say they observe Lent, to one degree or another. That's lower than the 31% of Americans who claim to attend worship services weekly or almost weekly, according to 2023 polling by Gallup.

Most believers who observe Lent find their own ways to mark the season, with some form of the "give up one thing for Lent" pattern as the norm. It's hard to find evidence of ancient Christian patterns of fasting and abstinence in the survey results.

"Fasting is on the Christian liturgical calendar not unlike the Jewish Yom Kippur and Muslim Ramadan," noted Lifeway executive director Scott McConnell, in the organization's summary of the study. "For Christians attending non-liturgical churches, they may not even notice the season of Lent has arrived. It is not that they look down on the practices of fasting, prayer and charity. But if they participate, they may be exchanging additional time with God for other forms of self-denial."