Thomas Reese

Signs of the Times: The future of the Catholic Church is with the young, which is why Pope Francis has called bishops from all over the world to meet in Rome Oct. 3-28 for a synod on young people. If the church cannot attract and keep young people, it has no future.

Were Brett Kavanaugh a Catholic priest being considered for promotion to bishop, or a bishop looking to become cardinal, his promotion would be dead in the water until his name was cleared.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., has done the right thing. He has asked Pope Francis to accept his resignation, which he submitted three years ago when he reached 75, the age at which all Catholic bishops submit their resignations.

There is only one way the bishops can begin to regain credibility, and that is to give a full and credible account of past abuse. 

It is hard to know what to think of the bombshell dropped by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who released a scalding letter on Sunday calling on Pope Francis to resign.

People are not satisfied that the Catholic Church has vigorously responded to the sex abuse crisis. After seeing the crisis covered in The Boston Globe and elsewhere since at least 2002, they are surprised to see reports once again in the media. What does the church need to do to get its house in order and satisfy its critics?

Awful, disgusting, horrifying, sickening — one runs out of adjectives in describing the actions of abusive priests chronicled in the just-released Pennsylvania grand jury report.

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court has approved the release of a grand jury's report on sexual abuse of minors in six Catholic dioceses across the state.

Pope Francis has decided to change the catechism of the Catholic Church to make clear the church's opposition to the death penalty. By including it in the catechism, the pope ensures that the church's teaching against capital punishment will spread throughout the church.

The recent sex abuse scandal involving Cardinal Theodore McCarrick raises once again the question of how the church can punish bad priests and bishops, especially when the state cannot because of the statute of limitations or other reasons.

As the sexual abuse scandal surrounding Cardinal Theodore McCarrick continued to spread in the past week, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, acknowledged on July 23 that "a major gap still exists in the church's policies on sexual conduct and sexual abuse."

Fifty years ago, Pope Paul VI issued an encyclical that shook the Catholic Church to its core by declaring that every use of artificial contraceptives is immoral.

Signs of the Times: There is universal agreement that those who have sex with minors should be prosecuted as criminals and expelled from the priesthood. But what about violations with adults? Are there other sexual violations that should be treated by the church with zero tolerance?

Spirituality, whether Christian or Muslim, frequently uses the language of battle, so it is not surprising that Pope Francis promotes the Christian equivalent of a spiritual jihad. 

In the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandals, what seems like bad news for the church — seemingly daily headlines about clergy being disciplined — is actually good news.

Signs of the Times: It is ironic that the bishops — who think of themselves as teachers — have an easier time reaching agreement on their opposition to, or support of, specific government programs than in agreeing on a teaching document for their people. 

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York makes many good points in his response to my column calling for a new pro-life strategy, but he ignores the political context of the abortion controversy in the United States.

We can all recognize the dangers Pope Francis sees in today's culture. In answer, the pope gives us five great expressions of love for God and neighbor that he considers particularly important.

The overwhelming vote in Ireland in favor of allowing access to abortion shows that the pro-life movement needs a new strategy. 

Soon, Pope Francis will have chosen almost half the men who will pick his successor. On June 29, he will create 14 new cardinals, continuing to break tradition by passing over the archbishops of large European and American archdioceses.