‘A Divine Plot’ is three short pieces published as one, the authors: Pope Francis and Martin Scorsese – inspired by Fr Antonio Spadaro’s new book Una Trama Divina – continue their search for Jesus.

What principles guided the Second Vatican Council’s discernment in its decision-making as it reflected on religious liberty, relations with other Christians, and with the Jewish people? The Principles of Discernment of the Second Vatican Council seeks answers in the final texts of the council, rather than from the history of their composition and subsequent reception.

Religious Nationalism and Pope Francis’ ‘Culture of Encounter’ is by David Hollenbach, Pedro Arrupe Distinguished Research Professor of the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. It sketches several examples of how religious nationalism threatens peace. He looks at several forms of faith-based resistance to religious nationalism, in particular Christian nationalism and concludes by highlighting how Pope Francis’s “culture of encounter” can provide a remedy for such religious nationalism and can help build peace.

The Spiritual Exercises are St. Ignatius’ kerygmatic legacy, his “Gospel.” The practice of the Exercises is ordered to the choice of one’s state of life, or its reform. For a Theology of the Discernment of Spirits explains that at the heart of the thematic structure of the Exercises is a set of norms and practices that are an essential part of the kerygma. The author Miguel Angel Fiorito was a friend and spiritual counsellor to Jorge Bergoglio.

For nearly 30 years, governments around the world have been meeting annually to develop a common approach toward the looming climate emergency. This is an obligation according to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Is a Climate Catastrophe Inevitable? Considers the success of these Conference of Party, or COP, meetings.

Also in the issue:

Russia in the Arctic: Between realpolitik and mythology of the north, Vladimir Pachkov
‘The Book of Revolutions’: The battles of priests, prophets and kings that birthed the Torah, David Neuhaus
The Election of Lula and a Polarized Brazil, Bruno Franguelli
Critical Thinking in the Face of the Culture of Banality, Leandro Sequeiros
The Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan: Two countries, many facets, Jean-Pierre Bodjoko
The Women’s Revolution in Iran, Giovanni Sale
One Hundred Years of the BBC, Paul Soukup

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