Marcelo Figueroa Archives

Two (strong) views on blockbuster essay about U.S. religion, politics
- Interviews
- July 20, 2017
On Monday, Crux’s weekly radio show on the Catholic Channel, “Crux of the Matter,” featured a conversation between Austen Ivereigh and Thomas Williams about a recent article by two close friends of Pope Francis asserting there’s an “ecumenism of hate” in the United States in ties between Evangelical Fundamentalists and “Catholic Integralists.” This is a transcript of their exchange.
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Evangelicals are potential allies for the good, not partners in hate
- Commentary
- July 17, 2017
Trumpism, so to speak, which is a lot more complicated than most analysis allows for, had made it ever-easier to lump all elements of more-right-of-center American activism together. It’s important to remember that many Catholics and Evangelicals are forming coalitions in an attempt to discern God’s call to each one of us about the common good, on the front lines.
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Agree or not, it’s good to know what Vatican insiders think of America
- Analysis
- July 16, 2017
An article by two friends of Pope Francis arguing that a ‘Manichean vision’ underlies ‘a surprising ecumenism … between Evangelical fundamentalists and Catholic Integralists’ in the United States may be debatable, but it illustrates a time-honored Vatican take on America that neither this pope nor his advisers invented. (As a footnote, we might want to slow down before blaming the US bishops.)
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Article by pope’s confidantes adds little to understanding Trump’s America

A recent article in the influential Rome-based ‘La Civiltà Cattolica’ – which is reviewed by the Vatican’s Secretariat of State before publication – politics of the Trump administration has its roots in an unholy alliance between “Evangelical Fundamentalism” and “Catholic Integralism.” But does it patronize Evangelicals and mischaracterize certain Catholics to make its point?

Jesuit journal close to pope says “Manichean vision” behind Trump

Vatican

July 13, 2017

An article in the influential Rome-based Jesuit publication ‘La Civiltà Cattolica’ argues “a strange form of surprising ecumenism is developing between Evangelical fundamentalists and Catholic Integralists brought together by the same desire for religious influence in the political sphere” in the United States.

Pope’s friend says Francis simply doesn’t fit any ideology

Marcelo Figueroa, a Protestant and a close friend of Pope Francis who is now editing the Argentinian edition of the Vatican newspaper ‘L’Osservatore Romano’ in order to get past the local spin on the pope’s words, says that “trying to match or relate Francis to an ideology, be it an economic or political one, whatever the name of the ideology, is a mistake.”