Christianity

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A genetic history study of Spain by Gonzalo Oteo-Garcia et al. in Genome Biology eloquently confirms the story of the great seventeenth-century ethnic cleansing of the remaining crypto-Muslims of Spain. As Mar Jonsson writes in his 2007 “The expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain in 1609–1614: the destruction of an […]

Featured

From Gaza to America and Vietnam, the Prospect of a Peacemaker Pope

Richard Penaskovic

Auburn, Al. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – It’s not surprising that Pope Leo XIV took the name Leo in honor of Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903). Why so? In 1891, Leo XIII wrote the encyclical, Rerum Novarum, that stated Capital and Labor must cooperate and there should be a just wage for workers. Leo also […]

Immigration

Pope Leo XIV’s Link to Haiti is Part of a broader American Story of Race, Citizenship and Migration

The Conversation

By Chelsea Stieber, Tulane University (The Conversation) – Early coverage of Pope Leo XIV has explored the first American pontiff’s Chicago upbringing, as well as the many years he spent in Peru, first as a missionary and then as a bishop. Genealogist Jari Honora broke the story of the pope’s ancestors’ connection to the Creole […]

Israel/ Palestine

Pope’s final Wish: his Car to become a mobile Clinic for Gaza’s Children

Middle East Monitor

( Middle East Monitor ) – Swedish Television announced on Sunday a humanitarian initiative to convert the late Pope Francis’s car—used during his 2014 visit to Bethlehem—into a mobile clinic for children in the Gaza Strip, fulfilling his final wish. The initiative is being carried out in coordination between Peter Brune, Secretary General of Caritas […]

Islam

Pope Francis encouraged Christian-Muslim Dialogue and helped break down Stereotypes

The Conversation

By Craig Considine, Rice University (The Conversation) – Pope Francis’ pontificate marked a distinct shift in the Catholic Church’s engagement with the Muslim world. While his predecessors fostered dialogue and tolerance, Francis sought more active engagement with Muslims, particularly in the Middle East. Francis framed his efforts around the “culture of encounter,” which he explained […]

Featured

Pope Francis’s Enduring Legacy on Palestine and the Middle East

Ibrahim Al-Marashi

By Mohammad Eslami and Ibrahim Marashi | – Braga, Portugal and San Marcos, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The world now grieves the loss of Pope Francis, a spiritual titan whose moral compass and unwavering voice for the marginalized reverberated far beyond the confines of Vatican walls. At the heart of his papacy […]

Featured

How Pope Francis Divinized Palestinian Suffering: The Gaza Pietà

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936 in Buenos Aires to Italian immigrant parents, is dead at 88 after a prolonged illness. Almost alone of Western leaders, he showed enormous sympathy for the plight of the Palestinian civilians of Gaza. He called the small Catholic community there every evening. […]

Christianity

Three Ways Pope Francis influenced the Global Climate Movement

The Conversation

By Celia Deane-Drummond, University of Oxford The death of Pope Francis has been announced by the Vatican. I first met the late Pope Francis at the Vatican after a conference called Saving Our Common Home and the Future of Life on Earth in July 2018. My colleagues and I sensed something momentous was happening at […]

Israel/ Palestine

Christian Zionism hasn’t always been a conservative evangelical Creed – Churches’ Views of Israel have evolved over Decades

The Conversation

By Shalom Goldman, Middlebury (The Conversation) – During confirmation hearings, Mike Huckabee, President Donald Trump’s nominee as ambassador to Israel, told senators that he would “respect and represent the President,” not his own views. But the Baptist minister’s views on the Middle East – and their religious roots – came through. “The spiritual connections between […]