Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Pope Francis and the Catholic Way of Dialogue
Pope Francis and the Catholic Way of Dialogue
Apr 14, 2025 9:58 AM

In Crisis Magazine, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg discusses how Pope Francis and the Catholic Church engage other religions and philosophies:

“Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue.”

That, according to Pope Francis, is the response he gives when leaders ask him for advice about how to resolve their societies’ internal differences. It is, he recently told a gathering of prominent Brazilians, the only way for societies to avoid the dead-ends of what Francis called “selfish indifference” and “violent protest.”

Throughout the twentieth century, the Church provided powerful examples of how to proceed along this path. A case in point was the manner in which the Catholic Church in Poland in the face of constant—and, at times, extreme—provocation never ceased talking to the Communist regime, despite the fact that the conversation was with people who were generally of ill-will and who supported an evil political system.

Read more . . .

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Letter from Rome: Alfie’s political lessons
Readers in Italy, the UK and the US are probably already familiar with the case ofAlfie Evans, the 23-month-old baby boy suffering from an undiagnosed degenerative neurological condition. I’m writing on April 30, two days after Alfie died and one week after he was taken off life support at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, where he had been a patient since December 2016. The case made international headlines because it pitted Alfie’s young parents, who wanted to continue treatment,...
Remembering the prophet of violence and terror
On the bicentennial of Karl Marx’s birth, says Acton research director Samuel Gregg, the world should be excoriating his ideas and the terrorism they spawned, not excusing or celebrating them. It’s always a risky exercise to draw a straight line between particular ideas and human events. Most occurrences in human history have multiple causes. Occasionally, however, you can identify direct links. One example of this is the life and thought of Karl Marx, whose 200th birthday is memorated this month....
Another take on ‘Pope Francis and the Caring Society’
ICYMI: Over at The Federalist this past Friday, Ethics and Public Policy Center Fellow Luma Simms reviews Pope Francis and the Caring Society. As noted in my April 18 review, the collection of essays includes perceptive and educational insights from Acton’s own Samuel Gregg as well as many others, including Phillip Booth. The authors of the essays in Pope Francis and the Caring Society understand Catholic social doctrine well. Here they attempt to understand and interpret the current pope in...
‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and the danger of idolatrous ideology
Warning: This article contains a major spoiler about the plot of‘Avengers: Infinity War.’ If you haven’t seen the movie yetand don’t want it to know what happens then PLEASE STOP READING NOW. Since I was a boy I’ve loved Marvel Comics, and over the past decade I’ve loved almost everything about the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). But I don’t love the latest the edition of the MCU,Avengers: Infinity War. I should love the film because it’s packed with everything I...
5 Facts about Karl Marx
This Saturday is the 200thanniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, the most destructively influential writer on economics in world history. Here are five facts should know about the German philosopher and co-author of The Communist Manifesto: 1. As a student at the University of Bonn, Marx was introduced to the philosophy of the late Berlin professor G.W.F. Hegel and joined the Young Hegelians, a group that held radical views on religion and society. At the time Marx was still...
Beyond vocational hierarchies: Evangelism, social justice, and Christian mission
Throughout my conservative evangelical upbringing, I was routinely encouraged to follow the call of the “five-fold ministry,” whether from the pulpit in weekly church services or the prayer altars of summer youth camps. The implications were clear: entering so-called “vocational ministry” was a higher calling than, well, everything else. Later, in my college years at a leftist Christian university, I witnessed a lopsidedness of a different sort. Instead of being prodded into global missions, I was now encouraged to “make...
Unemployment as economic-spiritual indicator — April 2018 report
Series Note: Jobs are one of the most important aspects of a morally functioning economy. They help us serve the needs of our neighbors and lead to human flourishing both for the individual and munities. Conversely, not having a job can adversely affect spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals and families. Because unemployment is a spiritual problem, Christians in America need to understand and be aware of the monthly data on employment. Each month highlight the latest numbers we need...
This board game reveals the horrible truth about socialism
John Elliott and his friends at Diogenes Games created Socialism: The Game as a free-market lampoon of the board game Monopoly. The rules of the interminable Parker Brothers/Hasbro favorite teach children a distorted version of the free market (and its length gives adults a foretaste of Purgatory). Diogenes’ “unofficial expansion set” turns the game on its head: its object is for all players to attain equal poverty. In this thoughtful reimagining, the banker is replaced by the Federal Directorate of...
Radio Free Acton: RFA Reports on Direct Primary Care part II; Upstream on ‘Avengers: Infinity War’
On this episode of Radio Free Acton, we feature the second installment of RFA Reports. Guest Anne Marie Schieber-Dykstra, an award-winning reporter and former anchor with WOODTV Grand Rapids, talks with experts and patients on ways in which Direct Primary Care centers are providing better medical care for affordable prices. Then, on the Upstream segment, Bruce Edward Walker talks about the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: “Avengers: Infinity War” with Micah Watson, professor of political science at Calvin...
Urban revival in the Midwest: What does it mean for freedom?
We’ve long heard about the incessant flow of America’s best and brainiest to the country’s largest urban centers. As such cities continue to rise in population and prominence—from Los Angeles and San Francisco to New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C.—fears continue to loom about the power of “coastal elites” and the future of America’s “middle.” Those concerns have merit, of course. For although we see plenty of benefits from a density of smarts, skills, and capital, we also see...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved