Christmas Day 2021 sees the release of a Netflix series, Stories of a Generation with Pope Francis, based on this book. Pope Francis views elders as reservoirs of wisdom and historical memory and believes their insights will offer future generations much-needed understanding and direction. More than 250 people were interviewed and Loyola Press sent a collection of stories to the Vatican. These encompassed universal themes of love, loss, survival, hope, peace in the face of unimaginable tragedy, and above all, faith. Pope Francis received every story, prayed over them, and responded with sensitivity and grace to 31 of the stories and the issues they raise. In his Preface, Pope Francis lays out his reasons for this collection of wisdom stories and the movement he hopes it inspires. He also contributes as a fellow elder, offering a story from his own life at the start of each chapter . And in his own wise and compassionate way, he serves as a spiritual shepherd, commenting on dozens of heartfelt stories.

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom is a Catholic library in miniature, a one-volume microcosm of what the Church's great minds have thought and said since the apostolic age. Indeed, in The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom, noted theologian Fr. John A. Hardon has compiled the works of thirty-three of the greatest Catholic thinkers and writers, representing every period of the Church's passage through time, from the beginnings of Christianity to the present day. Here are men and women, bishops and priests, religious and the laity "whose native talents were elevated by the supernatural light that God reserves for those who are most submissive to His will." Included in this extraordinary and fascinating anthology are the works of the early saints, such as Gregory, Basil, Augustine, John Chrysostom, Patrick, Bernard Francis, and Thomas Aquinas. Here, too, are the writings of the great reformers Ignatius, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa of Avila; the mystic John of the Cross; the practical wisdom of Francis de Sales, Louis de Montfort, and Peter Julian Eymard; and the modern-day reflections of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Francis Thompson, Therese of Lisieux, G.K. Chesterton, and Fulton J. Sheen. The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom is a comprehensive anthology of the outstanding Catholic literature from the first century to modern times. Mystics and martyrs, philosophers and theologians, poets and prose writers are quoted at length and in depth. They are truly representative of the spirit and substance of Catholicism in its paradox of phenomenal stability and versatility over the centuries. Fr. Hardon has selected those writings which are representative of the thought and philosophy of each contributor, and has carefully chosen excerpts which are not always the most familiar. Thus, his volume provides not only a fresh collection of the best of Catholic wisdom, but also a uniquely comprehensive work which offers enlightenment and faith for generations of readers. John A. Hardon, S.J., holds a master's degree in philosophy from Loyola University and a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. He is the author of The Catholic Catechism and many other books. Fr. Hardon is also a founder of the Catholic Home Study Institute, a correspondence school which operates under pontifical approval.

The Wisdom of the Popes by Thomas J. Craughwell is a kind of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations of the papacy--a collection of statements about various religious and social issues by popes going all the way back to St. Peter. Beginning with theological topics ("Who God Is," "Jesus Christ, True God and True Man," "The Holy Spirit"); Craughwell proceeds to consider papal wisdom regarding worship and ethics ("God rewards nothing but charity, for charity alone honors God," wrote Clement XI in 1713); and finally to papal pronouncements about such controversial matters as slavery, the Holocaust, and communism. Each of the book's 21 chapters is quite short, offering little analysis or historical context for its quotations. Nevertheless, The Wisdom of the Popes is a provocative resource for readers seeking to understand some of the Church's timeless teachings, and the book will surely compel many of those readers to dig more deeply into the questions it raises.

Pope Francis is a pope of the people, and his teachings have been praised and shared by the faithful and nonreligious alike. Exploring themes universal to all people, Pope Francis’ Little Book of Compassion offers inspiration and hope from one of the world’s great spiritual leaders. In it, the Holy Father explores how living a life of compassion can be practiced in five areas of life: prayer, mercy, forgiveness, solidarity, and charity. Pope Francis appears to be changing the face of Roman Catholicism. He has infused the fusty institution with openness and optimism, faced off against established power interests within the Vatican, reformed the Church’s finances, and, most importantly, asked that Catholics approach one another and non-Catholics with candor, humility, and love. He has made the papacy and the Church relevant once again. Words from Pope Francis: “A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just.” “There is so much indifference in the face of suffering. May we overcome indifference with concrete acts of charity."

Mehr als 400 Jahre lang erlitten schwarzafrikanische Männer, Frauen und Kinder während des transatlantischen Sklavenhandels schlimmste Formen der Versklavung und Erniedrigung durch Katholiken und das westliche Christentum. Damals wie heute glaubte niemand an die tiefe Verwicklung der Kirche und des Papsttums in den schwarzafrikanischen Holocaust. Trotz jüngster Behauptungen des päpstlichen Officiums in Rom, wonach die Päpste jegliche Form von Sklaverei verurteilten, so auch im Falle der Versklavung von Schwarzafrikanern, verweisen neuere Studien innerhalb dieses Forschungsfeldes auf das Gegenteil. Die Kirche und die Päpste nahmen vielmehr zentrale Rollen in diesem schlimmsten Verbrechen gegen die Schwarzafrikaner seit Beginn der schriftlichen Dokumentation ein. Mithilfe zahlreicher päpstlicher Bullen aus den Geheimarchiven des Vatikans und einer Vielzahl an königlichen Dokumenten aus dem portugiesischen Nationalarchiv in Lissabon, strebt der vorliegende Band eine kritische und analytische Untersuchung dieses Aspekts des transatlantischen Sklavenhandels an, der über so viele Jahre von den westlichen Historikern und Gelehrten verschleiert wurde. For over 400 years, Black African men, women and children suffered the worst type of enslavement and humiliation from the hands of Catholics and other Western Christians during the transatlantic slave trade. Before now, no one could ever believe that the Popes of the Church were deeply involved in this Holocaust against Black African people. Despite the claims made by the hallowed papal office in Rome in recent years that the Popes condemned the enslavement of peoples wherever it existed including that of Black Africans, recent researches in these fields of study have proved the contrary to be true. The Church and her Popes were rather among the major “role players” in this worst crime against Black Africans in recorded history. With the help of a considerable number of papal Bulls from the Vatican Secret Archives and a great amount of Royal documents from the Portuguese National Archives in Lisbon, the present book is aiming to undertake a critical and analytical inquiry of this aspect of the transatlantic slavery that has been kept in the dark for so many years by the Western historians and scholars. The results of this studious but fruitful academic inquiry are laid bare in this notable work of the 21st century. Pius Onyemechi Adiele is a Catholic priest of Ahiara Diocese Mbaise and an alumnus of Seat of Wisdom Seminary Owerri and Bigard Memorial Seminary Enugu in Nigeria. He obtained his licentiate in Theology from the famous University of Münster and his doctoral degree in Church History from the renowned University of Tübingen in Germany. At present, he is a research fellow in the areas of African Church History and Enslavement of peoples as well as the pastor in charge of the merged parishes of Lauchheim, Westhausen, Lippach, Röttingen and Hülen in Germany.

A behind-the-scenes view of the power struggles within the Vatican and “a look inside the byzantine halls of the institutional Catholic Church.”—Publishers Weekly A journalist who has long covered the Vatican, Marco Politi takes us deep inside the struggle roiling the Roman Curia and the Catholic Church worldwide, beginning with Benedict XVI, the pope who famously resigned in 2013, and intensifying with the unexpected election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, now known as Pope Francis. Politi’s account balances the perspectives of Pope Francis’s supporters, Benedict’s sympathizers, and those disappointed members of the laity who feel alienated by the institution’s secrecy, financial corruption, and refusal to modernize. Politi dramatically recounts the sexual scandals that have rocked the church and the accusations of money laundering and other financial misdeeds swirling around the Vatican and the Italian Catholic establishment, and how Pope Francis’s attempts to address these crimes has been met with resistance from entrenched factions. He writes of the decline in church attendance and vocations to the priesthood as the church continues to prohibit divorced and remarried Catholics from receiving Communion. He visits European parishes where women perform the functions of missing male priests—and where the remaining parishioners would welcome the ordination of women, if the church would allow it. Pope Francis’s emphasis on pastoral compassion for all who struggle with the burden of family life has also provoked the ire of traditionalists. He knows from experience what life is like for the poor in South America and elsewhere, and highlights the contrast between the vital, vibrant faith of these parishioners and the disillusionment of European Catholics. As Pope Francis and his supporters are locked in battle with the defenders of the traditional hard line and with ecclesiastical corruption, the future of Catholicism is at stake—and it is far from certain Francis will succeed in saving the institution from decline.

A commonly held impression is that Pope Francis is a compassionate shepherd and determined leader but that he lacks the intellectual depth of his recent predecessors. Massimo Borghesi’s The Mind of Pope Francis: Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s Intellectual Journey dismantles that image. Borghesi recounts and analyzes, for the first time, Bergoglio’s intellectual formation, exploring the philosophical, theological, and spiritual principles that support the profound vision at the heart of this pope’s teaching and ministry. Central to that vision is the church as a coincidentia oppositorum, holding together what might seem to be opposing and irreconcilable realities. Among his guiding lights have been the Jesuit saints, Ignatius and Peter Faber; philosophers Gaston Fessard, Romano Guardini, and Alberto Methol Ferrer; and theologians Henri de Lubac and Hans Urs von Balthasar. Recognizing how these various strands have come together to shape the mind and heart of Jorge Mario Bergoglio offers essential insights into who he is and the way he is leading the church. Notably, this groundbreaking book is informed by four interviews provided to the author, via audio recordings, by the pope himself on his own intellectual formation, major portions of which are published here for the first time.

Insights from the world's newest spiritual leader on everything from forgiveness and faith to mercy and money, from prayer and parenting to tango and soccer Book jacket.

Taken from a variety of addresses and homilies delivered by Pope Francis, this collection can be used as meditations that will inspire and challenge you, push you deeper into Scripture, and fill you with gratitude for God's personal love for you.

Joanna Manning draws on her experience as a teacher in the Catholic school system, a former nun, and an outspoken advocate of women's equality. She powerfully articulates how Pope John Paul's views on women are not only a disaster for the Catholic Church, but are also a threat to the well-being of all women, regardless of belief.