Popular religiosity: faith or culture? Some time ago, a Jesuit, who at that time was working with a parish in a working-class neighborhood, confided to us his concern about the drastic decrease in the number of faithful attending celebrations, catechesis and parish activities. In contrast, he noted the enormous number of people who, gathered by the confraternity of the neighborhood, filled the parish on the occasion of its celebrations and, above all, flocked en masse whenever it carried its images...
After their great debut with La terra dell’abbastanza (Boys Cry, 2018), the brothers Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo have produced a film that deserves all the awards it has received, including five Nastri d’argento, and a prize at the Berlin Film Festival. The brothers describe Favolacce (Bad Tales), as a contrast to the realism of their first work, a sort of black fable in which, through the voice of a narrator, they portray the pneumatic vacuum of the parental figures (with...
Mary Magdalene is a key figure in early Christianity. Present in the four Gospels, she occupies a unique position, being a privileged witness to the resurrection. The East loves to call her “apostle of the apostles.” Tradition very quickly made her, especially after the fourth century, a sinner and a prostitute, identifying her with anonymous women in the Gospels, such as the forgiven sinner of Luke 7:36-50. But nothing in the Gospels supports such an identification. So, what do we...
American street artist Corie Mattie is better known as the “LA Hope Dealer.” She uses the street and walls as frames for her art, which is a communication of meaning and a reflection on the ethical principles of respect and tolerance. Born on the East Coast of the United States, she moved to Los Angeles. Returning east to study at the University of Maryland, Corie later finishing her education with a master’s degree at Georgetown University. She says about her...
In Jesus’ exchange with the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John, he tells her: “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). The Church affirms that Christ’s rootedness in the Jewish people signifies that salvation indeed has come from the Jews. The teaching of the Second Vatican Council on the Jewish people and the successive teaching in article 4 of the Declaration Nostra Aetate (NA)[1] insists that the relationship with the Jewish people, the constant reference to the Scriptures of...
If we could travel through time, to what period would we choose to return? Japanese writer Toshikazu Kawaguchi poses this and other questions in his novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold. It tells a very enjoyable story that takes place entirely inside a tiny café in Tokyo, which holds a secret: the chance to travel through time. A few ironclad rules determine the conditions of the journey. The first is in some ways the most discouraging, namely, that the present...
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