One hundred years ago, a public high school teacher stood trial in Dayton, Tennessee, for teaching human evolution. His nation is still feeling the reverberations today.
The important question is not whether new technologies are good or bad. What matters far more is whether we can learn to share the responsibility of stewardship – whether we can all be partners in what this new industrial revolution is making possible.
In the first week of Leo pontificate, the leading expert on the abuse crisis — as well as several survivors and victims of abuse — has come to the defense of the newly elected Roman pontiff after two organizations advocating for victims of abuse raised concerns regarding Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost's record on the matter not long after he was elected.
Leo is unlikely to match perfectly the positions of either American political party and will disappoint many as he runs a church that operates far outside of any local political faction. But he knows the U.S. political culture more intimately than any other pope in history — knowledge that may prove useful, as he is unlikely to escape politics altogether.
Although the choice of "Leo" may have taken the world by surprise as the U.S.-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost chose his papal name on May 8, church historians familiar with his career and the church's needs were probably not surprised.
Three hours after the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had died on April 21, the bells of Notre-Dame de Paris, the cathedral majestically restored after an epic fire in 2019, tolled 88 chimes in slow tempo.
As the world's Catholic cardinals gather for what is expected to be the largest conclave in history, they face a stark choice: to continue along Pope Francis' path of reform, or to initiate a course correction.
