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Father Raymond J. de Souza

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Father Raymond J. de Souza

Father Raymond J. de Souza
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Father Raymond J. de Souza is the editor-in-chief of Convivium, a Canadian online journal that explores the place of faith in common life. He serves as parish priest on Wolfe Island, in the Thousand Islands in the St n. Lawrence River, and as chaplain at Newman House, the Catholic chaplaincy at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He teaches in the Queen’s Economics Department and is chaplain of the Queen’s football team. He is Senior Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto, and a Senior Fellow at Cardus, Canada leading Christian think tank.

Author's Posts

Trump’s first foreign trip shows the importance of religion
- Commentary, Pope/Trump
- May 20, 2017
Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state for President Bill Clinton, argued that American foreign policy neglected the role of religion, and that it should be engaged as a potential force for peace. No doubt that she would be surprised that Donald Trump would be the president to build his first foreign trip on those premises by choosing to visit Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican.
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Pope Francis must support Venezuela opposition, or lose credibility
- Commentary, Global Church, Vatican
- May 17, 2017
The Catholic bishops of Venezuela have been subject to government harassment and violence for their defense of human rights and basic dignity. Last week the Latin American bishops meeting in San Salvador decried the deprivation of basic needs and human rights in Venezuela. Does Pope Francis now need to show greater support for the country’s opposition?
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Fatima, the Marian Age, and the Devil’s Century
- Commentary, Pope in Fatima
- May 12, 2017
In the great slaughterhouse of the twentieth century, the sheer scale of lethal evil, organized above all in the communist regimes, appeared to have loosed Satan himself in the world. In this context, the apparitions of Fatima were addressed directly to the wickedness of the twentieth century, as well as to the wickedness of sin that lurks in all of history.
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Before proclaiming martyrs, the waiting game is needed
- Commentary, Vatican
- May 6, 2017
Many of those killed in attacks targeting Christians were simply going about their daily affairs when the bomb went off, or the mob arrived. Some of them professed their faith, or at least did not deny it, before death, while others died without even knowing what was happening to them. Before the Church proclaims them all martyrs, the Church needs time to permit a fuller picture of the candidate to emerge. Waiving the mandatory five-year waiting period before opening a cause for canonization makes it harder to do that.
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Will Francis follow Benedict or Obama when he speaks to Muslims in Egypt?
- Commentary, Pope Francis in Egypt
- April 27, 2017
Pope Francis must choose how he addresses the Muslim community when he visits Egypt this week. He has two models: Former U.S. President Barack Obama and former Pope Benedict XVI. When a newly-elected Obama decided to address the “Muslim world” from Cairo in 2009, he insisted that Islam is a “religion of peace,” corrupted by a small few, and that there is nothing particularly Islamic about the violence committed by those who claim to be acting in the name of the Islam. The alternative approach was taken by Benedict in his 2006 Regensburg address, where he advanced the argument that how we understand God Himself determines how we understand what He might command.
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It’s time for Francis and the Vatican to get tough on Venezuela
- Commentary, Global Church
- April 24, 2017
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has unleashed government goons against the Church, entering parish churches to disrupt Masses. On Wednesday of Holy Week, Maduro’s men burst into the Chrism Mass of Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, shouting threats and physically assaulting the cardinal. It would therefore seem time for a denunciation from Pope Francis against the Maduro regime.
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