Pope Francis – Religion & Liberty Online

April 28, 2025

What to Expect at the Conclave

The conclave to elect a new bishop of Rome and successor of Peter, better known as “the Pope,” starts May 7. Here are a few things to consider as you begin to hear more about the future of the Church and the several cardinals considered to be the “front-runners.” Continue Reading...

April 21, 2025

Requiem Aeternam: Pope Francis (1936–2025)

On behalf of our colleagues, families, and friends at the Acton Institute in the United States and Rome, we express our heartfelt sorrow and the pledge of our prayers for the eternal repose of the soul of Pope Francis, the 266th Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, who passed away today at the age of 88 during the 13th year of his papacy, which began March 13, 2013. Continue Reading...

March 20, 2025

Pope Francis’ Plea for Migrants and Acton’s Core Principles

Pope Francis’ papacy has been characterized by a consistent emphasis on reaching out to the marginalized and accompanying them with love and mercy. The Holy Father speaks often of those on the peripheries: the forgotten, the excluded, those who interrupt the rhythms of our lives because they require more attention and care than most. Continue Reading...

February 12, 2025

Immigration, Subsidiarity, and State Sovereignty in the Age of Trump

Immigration has driven ideological discord and social fragmentation perhaps more than any other issue. Since assuming office in January, President Donald J. Trump has signed a series of executive orders empowering the Department of Homeland Security and its primary investigative arm, ICE, to expand border security and hasten the removal of illegal immigrants by way of individual and mass deportations. Continue Reading...

October 29, 2024

Preserving Religious Freedom in Taiwan, the Holy See’s Way

In early October, I sat down with Chou-seng Tou, former ambassador of Taiwan (the Republic of China) to the Holy See (2004–8), at his residence in Taipei. Ambassador Tou has had a long and distinguished diplomatic career. Continue Reading...

October 05, 2023

Laudate Deum: Or, Is the Catholic Church Just Another NGO?

If there is anything we have learned about Pope Francis’ commentaries on issues ranging from economics to the environment, it is that they invariably add up to a by-now predictable mixture. Continue Reading...

August 26, 2022

Pope Francis wants us to pray for small and medium-sized enterprises

Who would ever have guessed this would happen? Well, it did. And in the quiet month of Rome’s roasting August, when the city experiences a near-total exodus to cooler climes. Very few journalists, in either the religious or secular press, noticed. Continue Reading...

January 27, 2022

We all hate cancel culture now, even the pope

In the classic way of religious institutions, the pope picked up the term just as it seems to be going out of regular usage. It feels a bit like yesterday’s news. Continue Reading...

August 24, 2021

Jimmy Lai: Mogul, pro-democracy activist, and Communist China’s biggest target in fight to suppress free speech

Lai Chee-Ying, also known as “Jimmy Lai,” is a successful Hong Kong entrepreneur, media mogul, and democratic activist who fled, young and penniless, to Hong Kong from mainland China. Lai eventually founded Apple Daily, one of the most well-read newspapers in Hong Kong. Continue Reading...

May 12, 2021

Examining the moral basis of Pope Francis’ pleas for financial regulation – and the morality of ‘speculation’

In his Prayer Intentions for May 2021, Pope Francis is asking that Catholics pray for strict regulation of financial markets to protect the poor. But is strict government oversight what really protects the vulnerable from financial harm? Continue Reading...

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