The Synod on the Family to be celebrated in October 2015 will be very different in comparison with all the previous Synods of the Catholic Church. It will be so, but to a certain degree we can say it has already been so. In February 2014 Cardinal Walter Kasper delivered his famous report on the Gospel of the Family to […]
Statements by Stefano Fontana
The Final Document CCEE in Jerusalem: a test of courageous and Christian realism
I have the distinct impression that silence has reigned supreme regarding the final document of the Assembly of the Council of the European Episcopal Conferences (CEEC) held in Jerusalem from the 11th to the 16th of September this year. Present among other prelates from Italy were Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, who chairs the CEEC, and Archbishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, who chairs its […]
Non negotiable principles: if they arent only maladroit expression.
Non negotiable principles: in the recently published issue of “Teologia”, Giuseppe Angelini, dean of the Faculty of Theology of Northern Italy, refers to this as a “maladroit expression”. Then again, in the preceding issue of the same publication, Antonio Lattuadahad made a series of comments about the selfsame notion of non negotiable principles, leaving very little still standing. Prior to […]
The Dogmas of the Catholic Faith, the Social Doctrine of the Church and the Political action of Catholics.
Verona, 15 April 2015 Church of St. Peter Apostle The Social Doctrine of the Church is not in the best of health, the social engagement of Catholics uses it as a benchmark in a rather confused manner, its teachings are being secularized and reduced to the level of civic and constitutional propriety, and for some time its “relaunching”, so […]
Democracy should banish God. Some considerations after the new provocation by Paolo Flores dArcais.
Now that the dust has settled a bit, I would like to return to the theses argued by Paolo Flores d’Arcais, who sustains that “democracy should banish God”. I don’t believe it suffices to respond with an appropriately ironic comment such as “democracy should eject Flores d’Arcais”, nor repeat what Jacques Maritain said many years ago. Perhaps it’s not even […]
The Pontiffs and the Economy. Something doesnt add up.
What already happened for his predecessors is already happening for Pope Francis. When he speaks about the economy there are those who say he is left wing, that is to say against the free market, while others say he is right wing because he would like to moralize the market in the sense of ‘lubricating’ it better. There are also […]
Women in the revolution. The revolution of women.
VI Report on the Social Doctrine of the Church Introductory abstract Women in the revolution. The revolution of women. Stefano Fontana[1] Many are the themes coming to the surface in the world in 2013, the reference year for this Report, but one of them – rather unctuous in fact, and not really that evident to public opinion at large […]
The destiny of the west and secularization.
(Text presented at the conference of the ‘Magna Charta Foundation’ in Norcia on the theme “Between the caliphate and post-humanism: the future of the west”) Stefano Fontana The destiny of the western world is linked to secularization, a phenomenon and a subject whose most profound dimensions continue to escape us. I have no fear of flagging this lack of […]
The Social Kingship of Christ.
The doctrinal principle of the “social kingship” of Christ means that the construction of human society is unable to attain its own proper and natural ends without being ordered to Jesus Christ, Creator and Savior. Insofar as Creator, He has constituted human society, founding it on matrimony and the family, mutual love and authority. Moreover, ever as Creator, the Lord […]
Select comments on the Five Proposals on Laicity in LibertéPolitique
The review “Liberté Politique”, with which our Observatory is ordinarily on the same wave length, dedicated its latest issue now in circulation (n° 62, summer 2914) to the theme : “The Lay Morality, a new religion?”. Published in that issue are the 5 . presentations made at the Symposium “Morals and Laicity” held at Toulon on the 3rd and the […]
The X Report of the Observatory Cardinal Van Thuân dedicated to political Islam