Antonio Spadaro, SJ

Splendor, drama, mystery: with these three words Pope Francis offers to the people of God and all persons of goodwill his post-synodal apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia (Beloved Amazon), on the special synod for the Amazon, which took place in Rome, October 6-27, 2019.[1] With this synod, held at the heart of catholicity in Rome, the… Read the full article

The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989. From that day on Berliners started dismantling a symbol that had held them hostage for almost 30 years; it was an emblematic moment in the sunset of totalitarianism. It marked the beginning of what promised to be a new era characterized by intensifying globalization. Yet today, as… Read the full article

The trip to Thailand and Japan was the 32nd of Francis’ pontificate and the seventh in 2019. He has now visited 51 countries, 11 in 2019 alone. This trip follows previous Asian journeys to Korea in August 2014 for the Asian Youth Day, to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January 2015, and to Myanmar… Read the full article

The Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Panamazon region has just ended. Here we offer some immediate reflections on the value of this synodal assembly – the fourth of the pontificate of Francis, after the two synods on the family and the synod on young people. Already, we can discern some fundamental… Read the full article

A reading of the synodal process The Synod the Amazon is called to be an occasion for “conversion.” Ecclesial events need to be reflected upon and a historical reading made to perceive how God breaks into history even in contradictory conditions and to experience this action powerfully in the present ecclesial moment (cf. Evangelii Gaudium… Read the full article

 The interest of Pope Francis for the indigenous peoples has deepened with time. What is true in general is true for him, too: “Today, we are more aware of the wealth of indigenous peoples. This is true precisely in an era when, both politically and culturally, they tend to be increasingly nullified through globalization  understood as a… Read the full article

A seminar on Artificial Intelligence (AI) was held at Santa Clara University (Silicon Valley, California) from April 3-5, 2019, sponsored by the China Forum for Civilizational Dialogue (an institution born from the joint commitment of La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University) and the Pontifical Council for Culture. The event was hosted by the Tech &… Read the full article

Romania: land of ancient evangelization Romania is a land of ancient evangelization. The Gospel arrived there with the conquest of Dacia by the emperor Trajan (105 A.D.)[1]. In the last century, the rise to power of the communists marked the beginning of a harsh persecution. In 1948, by order of Stalin, the Romanian Greek Catholic… Read the full article