Saint Francis: The Nativity Scene in Greccio

Saint Francis: The Nativity Scene in Greccio

Giancarlo Pani SJ - Articles

 The Franciscan Family is commemorating the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis with a celebration spanning four years. It began by recalling the final approval of the Rule by Honorius III in 1223. Attention then turned to the celebration of Christmas at Greccio. The year 2024 sees the commemoration of the Stigmata, while 2025 will be dedicated to the Canticle of Brother Sun and 2026 to the Transitus.

‘None is the Number’: Antonio Monda’s spiritual noir

‘None is the Number’: Antonio Monda’s spiritual noir

Antonio Spadaro, SJ - La Civiltà Cattolica - Articles

In the game of roulette, numbers are everything.This game of chance finds its clear and distinct resolution when the wheel slows its spinning and stops. That is when the suspense melts away and the result comes in. The croupier’s focus is all on the resting point of the  the ball. It is that suspense that makes you hold your breath. The number which comes up is everything. The number changes destinies.

 
Women and the Diaconate

Women and the Diaconate

Giancarlo Pani SJ - Lay

 On May 12, 2016, at a meeting of the International Union of the Superiors General of Women’s Religious Orders, one sister asked Pope Francis why women were excluded from decision-making processes in the Church and from preaching at Eucharistic celebrations. In asking, she cited his words, “the feminine genius is needed in all expressions of the life of the Church and Society.”

Catholicism in 21st Century China

Catholicism in 21st Century China

You Guo Jiang, SJ - Missions

This was exactly Pope Francis’s message to China. In his first, historic interview on 28 January 2016 with Francesco Sisci for Asia Times, the Pope said: “[China] is a land blessed with many things. And the Catholic Church, one of whose duties is to respect all civilizations, before this civilization, I would say, has the duty to respect it with a capital “R”. The Church has great potential to receive culture”

Sadness: Precious Teachings from this Emotion

Sadness: Precious Teachings from this Emotion

Giovanni Cucci, SJ - Spirituality

Sadness is certainly not a desired or attractive feeling with its dense cluster of synonyms that are difficult to separate with any precision (boredom, angst, depression). It never has been, even if it has had a certain consideration in literary and philosophical circles (think of Spleen, the meditative or melancholic sadness, of Romanticism and decadence, or of the angst of Heidegger as the cipher of human existence) and has, in general, influenced the entire history of culture and medical research in the West.

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