Picture a medieval city in Europe, with the cathedral at its center, the people gathered outside on the piazza. Or think of ancient Rome, where leaders gathered at the Forum to discuss public affairs or offer sacrifices to their gods. In early New England villages, the church on the town green also served as the meetinghouse. In these communities, political debates were never far removed from religious principles.

The concept comes from the Old Testament, marking the completion of seven cycles of sabbath years, a time of rest given to the land every seven years. In the fiftieth year, not just the land but all of society would experience liberation and rest, marking a renewal of the freedom God gave his people in bringing them out of the slavery of Egypt. John Bergsma explains the importance of the biblical Jubilee in his book...

There is a large and growing distrust with institutions in the US. In fact, it has reached record lows according to Gallup. Trust in “the church or organized religion” is at 31%. Read another way, 7 out of 10 Americans distrust organized religion, including the Catholic Church. But, other institutions lack the trust of the masses as well. Congress, news organizations, big businesses, the criminal justice system, banks, the Supreme Court, and public schools have even lower levels of trust than religion does...

My brother, a medical doctor, says that I got my MD from Google University. He is not wrong. I’m a theologian, not a doctor. But, like Pope St. John Paul II before me, I have been fascinated with God’s creation of male and female. In particular, as we have been exploring over these past few columns, the differences in the lived experience of being male or female and the questions around how much of that difference...

Pope Francis releases his catechesis for the weekly General Audience, which was not held as he recovers from bilateral pneumonia, and recalls that it is never too late to consign everything to God and start anew in our journey.

The medical staff looking after Pope Francis considered stopping his treatment so he could die, according to the lead doctor, while the 88-year-old pontiff was hospitalized with a drawn-out respiratory illness.Professor Sergio Alfieri told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera the most critical moment came on February 28 when the pope had a breathing crisis and inhaled his own vomit.

My young friends told me the same story as the novelist: People don’t see them when they’re behind the counter. They might greet the customer by name and he’d looked confused or even annoyed, till something in his brain would click and he realized he was speaking to someone he knew. They were the help, and invisible. Writing novels not paying the bills, Camilla Grudova worked as a server at the same arts center where her own book had been launched and she’d been a celebrity.

Do you remember where you were when you heard the news of Pope John Paul II’s passing?

The Pope’s April 2025 prayer intention, disseminated by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (formerly known as the Apostleship of Prayer), is “let us pray that the use of the new technologies will not replace human relationships, will respect the dignity of the person, and will help us face the crises of our times.”

The US bishops’ Department of Migration and Refugee Services—joined by the National Association of Evangelicals, World Relief, and the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary—have published “One Part of the Body: The Potential Impact of Deportations on American Christian Families.”

“Roughly one in 12 Christians in the United States are vulnerable to deportation or live with a family member who could be deported,” the report states. “Our prayer with this report is that American Christians will recognize that these proposed deportations—to whatever extent they ultimately become a reality—are not just a policy issue, but a dynamic that will impact us, disciples of Jesus who are knit together in unity under Christ.”