News Items

The Forum regularly posts news articles of interest here from a variety of sources and news outlets. You can check back here or view the most recent ones from the homepage. We also archive these articles here, for those doing research, with news going back to 2006. Use the menu on the right to explore the archived articles.

News

8 Ways Pope Francis Is Changing the Direction of the Catholic Church

July 6, 2015
New York Times

The first Jesuit pope and the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years, Francis has differed significantly from his predecessors with his outspoken style and his approach to leading the church. His comments on poverty, church reform, climate change and divorce have made headlines around the world. Here is a look at some of them.

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Laudato Si' - A story of right relationships

July 7, 2015
By Patricia Siemen
Global Sisters Report – Capital E: Earth

“It’s all a question of story,” wrote Thomas Berry. “We are in trouble now because we do not have a good story .… and the old story, the account of how we fit into it, is no longer effective. We have not yet learned the new story.”

An Eastern Orthodox Perspective on Laudato Si

A Personal Response, An Ecumenical Reflection

By John Chryssavgis
First Things
July 6, 2015

Papal encyclical calls for renewed cooperation of science and ethics

July 6, 2015
By Mary Evelyn Tucker
Ecological Society of America

Shifting the Climate Debate Onto Sacred Ground

July 2, 2015
By Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Sufi teacher and author
Huffington Post

“The ecological crisis is essentially a spiritual problem.” These words spoken by an Eastern Orthodox theologian, Metropolitan John Zizioulas, at the Vatican news conference on the papal encyclical are profoundly important. The release of the encyclical was soon followed by a new study that...

The COEJL Guide to Jewish-Catholic Dialogue and the Environment

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL)
Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)

June 2015

http://multi.jewishpublicaffairs.org/coejl/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/06/Enyclical-Guide-6.22.2015.pdf

Laudato Si': A political reading

The papal encyclical is the first work that has risen to the full challenge of climate change

By Robert Manne
The Monthly
July 1, 2015

People and planet first: the imperative to change course

July 1, 2015
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City (VIS) – This morning a press conference was held in the Holy See Press Office to present the high-level Conference “People and planet first: the imperative to change course” (Rome, Augustinianum, 2-3 July) organised by the Pontifical Council “Justice and Peace” and CIDSE, an international network of Catholic non-governmental...