This is the last of a series of columns by the author on Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas.” This piece focuses on the Conclusion. For earlier columns, see Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. (RNS) — In the conclusion to his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” Pope Leo XIV proposes what he calls…
When Pope Leo XIV was elected last year and it emerged that he was a tennis player, his love of the sport was quickly celebrated during an audience with top-ranked Jannik Sinner. In the ensuing months, Leo has tried to set aside time in his busy schedule to play the sport every week as part…
In the wee hours I often admire my husband’s muscular back, giving thanks for its “surest protection,” like that of the “resplendent mountain” I recently discovered in a 13th century spiritual memoir by German mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg. For Mechthild, the physical is mystical, and the mystical is sensual. After all, as Anne Lamott puts…
