Pope Francis

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...

February 11, 2021

‘Mental torture’? Jimmy Lai denied bail for second time

Early Tuesday morning local time, guards hurried pro-democracy and human rights advocate Jimmy Lai out of his prison transport – handcuffed, arms chained around his waist like a member of a chain gang – and inside the courthouse. Continue Reading...

December 29, 2020

Meet the two Chinese Christians Donald Trump compared to Thomas Becket

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump rendered a tremendous service to the advancement of global religious liberty: He reminded people of the legacy of Thomas Becket, and he named the sainted martyr’s modern-day successors-in-the-spirit. Continue Reading...

December 11, 2020

Chinese Communist ‘Gospel’ teaches that Jesus killed a woman

China’s Communist government has given the world another example of how socialism is incompatible with Christianity, literally chapter and verse. A Chinese textbook teaches students that Jesus Christ stoned a woman to death while admitting that He is a sinner. Continue Reading...

December 11, 2020

Jimmy Lai faces life in prison under new ‘national security law’ charges

Chinese Communist authorities have levied new charges against Jimmy Lai, which could result the outspoken Catholic dissident spending the rest of his life in prison. On Friday, authorities formally charged the Hong Kong media tycoon with violating its restrictive “national security law.” Continue Reading...

December 03, 2020

Jimmy Lai, 2020 Acton award recipient, arrested and denied bail

Jimmy Lai, the outspoken Catholic dissident who has dedicated his Hong Kong-based media empire to exposing Chinese repression, has been arrested on new charges and ordered to spend the next four months in jail. Continue Reading...

October 06, 2020

Fratelli Tutti is a familiar mixture of dubious claims, strawmen, genuine insights

One of the first things that will strike readers of Pope Francis’s new social encyclical Fratelli Tutti is its sheer length. At about 43,000 words in English (including footnotes), that’s more than the Book of Genesis (32,046) and three times the size of the Gospel of John (15,635). Continue Reading...

September 07, 2020

Jimmy Lai innocent, Pope Francis silent on Hong Kong

A court has found Hong Kong dissident Jimmy Lai not guilty of intimidation. But that does not mean he, or Hong Kong, can rest easy – especially as he faces the prospect of life in prison without any public support from the most important institution in his life: the Vatican. Continue Reading...

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