…Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, who has taken the name Pope Francis. Bergoglio is the first Jesuit to be pope and the first pope from Latin America. It had been widely speculated that a new pope might be chosen from … Continue reading →
…by becoming the first pontiff in 600 years to resign. It’s not because of scandal or politics, it seems. Pope Benedict has been infirm for quite some time, and he writes: After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I … Continue reading →
…is neither conventional nor wise. But it seems to be running the show lately. Case in point: you mean the Muslim Brotherhood’s not a reasonable and moderate group? Who woulda thunk it? Everyone who thought about it and did a … Continue reading →
No surprise whatsoever here: Egypt’s president on Thursday issued constitutional amendments that placed him above judicial oversight and ordered the retrial of Hosni Mubarak for the killing of protesters in last year’s uprising. Mohammed Morsi also decreed immunity for the … Continue reading →
I’ve been thinking about this poem lately. It’s really a bleak work (and very modern, despite the year it was written, which was probably around 1851). The subject is the loss of faith. Not a personal loss of faith, but … Continue reading →
Remember back to when the fatwa on Salman Rushdie seemed a strange and unfathomable aberration? Never such innocence again.
Continue reading →Let me see if I’ve got this straight: A privately produced and amateurish anti-Islam film made by expat Coptic Christians in the US and distributed on YouTube is said to spark violent protests in Cairo. The US Embassy there apologies … Continue reading →
What are the odds of this? From Mia Farrow’s autobiography, What Falls Away: My mother [actress Maureen O’Sullivan], her father’s favorite, went to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Roehampton. She hated it. They had to wear vests in … Continue reading →
Of all the things I saw at the convention, the most potentially powerful was the series of presentations about Romney’s good deeds. It was both curious and moving, and unprecedented (at least in my memory) for an introduction to a … Continue reading →
…whether this article, which I found at Drudge, is reporting the truth. If it is, however, that would be a very ominous sign in Egypt. On the other hand, ye olde blood libel is alive and well and living in … Continue reading →
I hadn’t thought of this before, but it’s an interesting point that Peter Shrag makes: For the first time in the 236-year history of the Republic, no one on either presidential ticket belongs to the once-prototypical American group, the White … Continue reading →
“Authentically nice politician”—is that a double oxymoron? Not according to Sven Wilson, whose article on the subject was brought to my attention by a reader. I’m in nearly complete agreement with what he says here: Romney has, as we all … Continue reading →