This article gives an account of the legacy of Pope Francis particularly in his moral teachings and pastoral practices. From the beginning of his reign, he sought to teach as Christ did, welcoming all into the merciful life of the church. I will examine how through his work with the World Popular Movements and the Synods on the family, Francis developed a remarkable responsive listening; it looks then to the work of Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti where he leads us to embrace both the earth and all humankind. It concludes on Dilexit Nos and the Synod on Synodality.

Given how moral subjectivity and action are constituted within networks of interpersonal and social relations as they negotiate emerging questions and insights, this moral note addresses (a) enduring, individualistic signs of the times in cultural, ecclesial, and methodological contexts; (b) models of agency that center our social and finite dimensions; and (c) what such contexts and scholarship suggest for an agenda for moral agency today. It proposes that deeper attention to the function of internalized structures, the graces of failure and disorientation, and responses to ambiguity are warranted to meet the moment, between the times.

The state of democracy is declining worldwide, and that includes the United States, the oldest constitutional democracy. Various scholars have proposed theories regarding the growth and decline of democracy in the twenty-first century. Many commentaries point to a new threat to democracy that goes by a variety of names. This essay aims to understand the cause of the democratic decline and the Catholic Church’s role in supporting democracy.

The global rise of right-wing authoritarian populism poses a challenge to the Catholic
theology of conscience. For decades, the church has emphasized the connection of
conscience to absolute values in the face of political confrontation with Marxism and
its inchoate totalitarian democratic descendants. But today’s right-wing authoritarian
populist regimes raise different questions: about conscience and relationship,
conscientious objection, and the relationship of the freedom of the church and
freedom of conscience. This article reviews recent literature about this challenge.

This article uses the work of Ignacio Ellacuría to articulate a concept of sin in light
of the literature on how neoliberalism shapes us into homo oeconomicus. Ellacuría
describes sin as the stifling of the theologal dimension of historical reality; it rejects
the fundamental affirmation that all things “have been formed according to the triune
life and refer essentially to that life.” Under neoliberalism, such a concept of sin is
hollowed out, as transgressions are always and only against the market: The always
elusive economic market is the only victim of history. The article ends with how the
denunciation of sin has functioned as a critique of market logics on the southern US
border.

This article argues that friendship is not solely an analogy for eschatological life but can be an explicit object of eschatological hope. Responding to Gary Chartier’s contention that universal eschatological friendship is impossible due to human finitude and the preferential nature of friendship, I engage John Thiel’s account of time and forgiveness in the eschaton. I argue that our finite participation in the eternal life of God, as mediated by time, entails a transfiguration of our finitude that both respects and transcends our creaturely identities. This transfiguration makes universal eschatological friendship a reasonable hope and affirms earthly friendship as a site of eschatological anticipation.

This article traces the development of a tension between the missionary theology of Ad Gentes and Nostra Aetate’s incipient theology of religions through a period of intermediate curial debate toward a resolution expressed in the magisterial teachings of Pope Francis. Shortcomings in both conciliar documents reveal Eurocentric biases in the council’s ecclesial imaginary; further, postconciliar curial reflections, informed by a fear of error and relativism, submit dialogue to the particular missionary goal of conversion of non-Christians. Ultimately, Francis’s description of the theological task as fundamentally comparative in Ad Theologiam Promovendam offers the church a broader range of methodological approaches to diversity and normativity that make intellectually and ethically responsible theology possible in a religiously diverse world.

Bernard Lonergan develops a rich theology of prayer in his article “The Mediation of Christ in Prayer.” When his theology of prayer is integrated with his soteriology, theology of history, and argument for theology as a praxis, it reveals the role of prayer in historical recovery and yields a revitalized theology of the cross. More particularly, Lonergan recommends prayerfully encountering Christ’s redemptive deeds in Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. This encounter cultivates the real apprehension of the mystery of redemption that is both the principle of historical recovery and the heart of a revitalized theology of the cross that neither trivializes evil nor sacralizes violence.

This article proposes an ecumenical understanding of Christian tradition that valorizes the pluralism of Christian confessions as virtuous efforts to receive the gift of divine revelation. Its argument culminates in an eschatological ecclesiology that might serve as an aesthetic for appreciating the role of tradition in ecumenical dialogue.

Contemporary society’s political dynamics, especially the progressive-conservative divide, shape perceptions of the church and color perspectives on its future. Can ecclesiology provide a compelling alternative to political readings of the church, an alternative that is authentically theological, attentive to context, and conducive to realistic hope for the church’s future? To respond to that question, this article develops an “integral ecclesiology” that encompasses the implications that the church’s relationship to God has for its mission, engagement with history, ongoing conversion, and orientation to an eschatological fulfillment. The article concludes by briefly considering the Final Document of the Synod on Synodality (2021−24) as an expression of integral ecclesiology.

For more than a century, canon law has been overwhelmingly understood as the purview of canonists, quite apart from the work of theologians. Insufficient understanding of and appreciation for the history and function of canon law on the part of theologians are both a product of this perceived separation and a factor contributing to its perpetuation. This article argues that the realization of the theological vision of Vatican II, and the success of the Synod on Synodality, will require greater understanding of the form and function of canon law in the Roman Catholic Church.

This essay dwells on a crucially important dimension of the church’s synodal renewal: personal renewal. First, I suggest that, to bring out the notion’s full weight, it is helpful to link it to the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the universal call to holiness and its transformation during the council. Second, I suggest that synodality enriches the council’s teaching by being more specific about what holiness entails and that it may provide the reception of the council’s teaching on holiness with a fresh impetus. In the conclusion, I suggest that thematizing personal renewal balances conceptual and spiritual approaches to ecclesiology.

Pope Francis imbued the ancient word parrhesia with new significance, framing “frank, bold, courageous speech” as a partner concept to his signature vision of a “listening church.” After tracing Michel Foucault’s genealogy of the term, I argue that Francis’s pneumatological turn is a creative ressourcement of parrhesia, one that would require major shifts for the present church to embrace. To illuminate the challenging intra-ecclesial dynamics of parrhesia, I analyze three case studies of figures from Vatican II whose frank, bold, courageous speech met institutional backlash. I conclude with implications for realizing a more parrhesiastic culture in a synodal church.

This article argues that the idea of creation provided the early church with an integrative framework by which to contemplate nature. Rather than being understood merely as backdrop to the spiritual life, nature was taken as the site in which the drama of the divine economy was revealed. A retrieval of this stance could have value for the contemporary church. This will be explored with reference to a recent ecumenical initiative for a “Feast of Creation” across worldwide communions.

Several themes are as fundamental in Buddhist thinking as they are in the ancient and modern debates about the teaching of the Council of Nicaea (325). This article argues that if the interreligious dialogue urged by Vatican II had been more energetically sustained, a Buddhist-Christian conversation about the legacy of Nicaea could have been a significant ecumenical event, overcoming the monopoly of Eurocentric perspectives.

On the Council of Nicaea’s 1700th anniversary, can its creed still be confessed by contemporary Christians in a culture full of “buffered selves” (C. Taylor) and suspicious of long-ago metaphysical worldviews and appeals to transcendence? This essay retrieves the “thinkability” and “experienceability” of the Nicene Creed by (1) considering its place in its usual performative liturgical setting, (2) recalling its provocative historical solution and the still-remaining ontotheological problem, (3) retrieving as much as possible the experience of revelation and salvation that the creed articulates, and (4) applying a performance hermeneutic that considers the creed as analogous to a musical score that needs performance-over-time for its meaning to be thinkable, experienceable, and revelatory.

This article explores the connection between the Council of Nicaea and the church in Africa through two main perspectives: geography and the contributions of African theologians as well as theological and christological developments. The first part highlights Africa’s geographical and cultural significance to Nicaea, examining the involvement of African theologians in the council’s outcomes. The second, more detailed section analyzes how themes rooted in Nicaea have continued to influence African Christianity even as modern theological discussions do not explicitly and consistently reference the council. Taken together, these sections trace the enduring impact of Nicaea on the evolution of African theological thought.

This article argues that the Council of Nicaea, which has borne responsibility for moving the church away from a primarily scriptural mode of speaking, is, in fact, thoroughly grounded in what we might call “the symbolic universe of Scripture.” The events and documents that preceded, were contemporaneous with, and followed Nicaea all chart their own ways through that universe, even when they appear to have departed it. Today, the council beckons and helps guide the church, in particular its theologians, to live again in the world that Scripture produces.

This article offers a comprehensive interpretation of the Council of Nicaea, in light of Eusebius of Caesarea’s role in the so-called Arian crisis. Given the historical-theological orientation of the study, it begins with hermeneutical caveats regarding the sources. It then examines the outbreak of the crisis, Eusebius’s theology before the controversy, the Ossius embassy, the Council of Antioch, and the Council of Nicaea itself. The article argues, first, that the key theological issue at stake was the strict eternity of the Son, which Eusebius of Caesarea denied; second, that Eusebius—not Arius—was the principal adversary of Alexander of Alexandria; third, that the Nicene theological discussions primarily revolved around Eusebius’s faith; and, fourth, that the homoousios implied the strict eternity of the Son.

This Note recaps highlights of the 2024 US presidential election from a Catholic perspective. It is not this article’s aim to pronounce an authoritative postmortem on reasons for the election result, and post-inauguration actions of the second Trump administration are also outside its scope. Instead, this Note lifts up perspectives from recent theological work that shed light on major issues in the campaign. It will reflect on the key events in the election cycle and identify some similarities between the candidates’ positions before assembling theological work dealing with two issues where the candidates markedly differed: abortion and religious nationalism. It will close with some reflections on the semiotics of the candidates’ public personae that point toward calls for future moral-theological work.