US papal visit Archives

The year in review in Catholicism 2015
- Dec 30, 2015
Keeping up with news about the Church is always interesting, but 2015 was a banner year in many ways. There was the release of a first-ever encyclical on the environment, vigorous debates about religious freedom after the legalization of same-sex marriage in Ireland and the United States, an intense back-and-forth

By Michael O'Loughlin
Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop Kurtz visit President Obama at the White House
- Nov 13, 2015
Two of the US Church’s highest-ranking bishops were at the White House Friday morning, meeting with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as a follow-up to Pope Francis’ September visit to the United States. Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington and Louisville’s Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the US

By Michael O'Loughlin
Francis faces a balancing act on sexual abuse reform
- Oct 12, 2015
ROME — A member of Pope Francis’ Vatican commission to fight child sexual abuse said Monday that when the pontiff praised the “courage” of the American bishops in handling abuse during his recent trip to the United States, he was engaged in a delicate balancing act. That line stirred controversy

By John L. Allen Jr.

Pope's US visit helped increase goodwill toward the Catholic Church

Oct 8, 2015

It’s sometimes said that polls simply confirm what everybody already knows, and a new poll from the Pew Research Center seems to prove the point: Pope Francis remains wildly popular with Americans. And the “Who am I to judge?” pope finds his popularity with liberals growing and some papal unease

By Michael O'Loughlin

The Vatican must speak on conscientious objection

Oct 2, 2015

For as long as anyone can remember, the Vatican has had a special genius for snatching public relations defeat from the jaws of victory. Even by that standard, the fracas surrounding Pope Francis’ meeting with Kim Davis last week, which broke out immediately after his massively successful US trip, sets

By John L. Allen Jr.

A tale of two papal meetings

Oct 2, 2015

During his visit to the United States, Pope Francis waded into the US culture wars with two private visits. But how Church officials managed the narrative of those meetings suggest some internal discomfort about how one of the visits came to be — and how it’s being used. The first

By Michael O'Loughlin