The ‘New Taliban’ The latest measures taken by the Taliban government in Kabul, particularly concerning women, such as access to education, the right to work, and the reintroduction of Sharia law, have highlighted (in case there was any need) the repressive and essentially misogynistic character of the new “emirate,” with its justifications based on tribal and religious traditions. Meanwhile, the country sinks into an unprecedented economic and social crisis, making it one of the poorest states in the world.[1] Yet...
The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination was a conference held at the headquarters of La Civiltà Cattolica, from May 25-27, 2023. Organized by our magazine together with Georgetown University in Washington, DC. The meeting brought together over 40 poets, storytellers, screenwriters and filmmakers from various countries around the world who identify as Catholic, or who feel that Catholicism has been a formative dimension of their artistic development.[1] Participants engaged in a conversation about the spiritual and religious dimensions of...
Since 1948, the two words “Jew” and “Arab” in the same sentence have widely been understood to refer to polar opposites, suggesting mutual distrust and enmity, war and violence, pointing to a supposedly unbridgeable gap between the two. It is timely to remember that this was not always the case. In reflecting on the history of the Jews in Arab lands, one can say there was an earlier time before Jews were hostile to Arabs, and Arabs hostile to Jews,...
The relationship between the brothers Jacob and Esau is shot through with dramatic tension: manipulation and deceit, violence and forced separation, conflict and unexpected rapprochement. So it seems fair to ask: Where is God in all this? How do we recognize him in these often controversial and unsubtle human stories? Yet it is precisely on the stage of life that the Bible stages the drama of family relationships and the unexpected possibility of finding the face of God in the...
“I think that the study of theology is of the greatest importance. It is an indispensable service to the Church.”[1] The past ten years of the papacy of Pope Francis have been a time of extraordinary activity and challenge for the Church. Whether involved with internal renewal and synodality, with the urgency of apostolic outreach to other faiths, or opposing conflicts and the ever-widening consequences of the ecological crisis, the pope has been concerned with the Church’s mission. His easy...
On June 20, 2017, after visiting the tomb of Fr. Primo Mazzolari, Pope Francis went to the cemetery in Barbiana, the resting place of Fr. Lorenzo Milani, another challenging prophet of our time. There they were facing each other: Francis and Lorenzo, in silence. With the pope praying alone, it was almost a showdown. The pope had recently freed from censorship Don Lorenzo’s book, Pastoral Experiences.[1] In a message for the publication of his Opera Omnia,[2] he had made it...
The most respected digital Catholic journal from Rome. A must-read on all the present issues alive in the Church. Discover top Church scholars interpreting the history, politics, culture, science and art in the light of the Christian faith.
© Union of Catholic Asian News 2023 | All Rights Reserved.
Except for any fair dealing permitted under the Hong Kong Copyright Ordinance, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without prior permission.
