Peace

Inspired by Fratelli Tutti, a recent conference explored ways the Catholic community can bring bold, creative proposals to current problems and help build a post-pandemic world more attuned to a Catholic vision.

Commentary: We need an all-out mobilization to build renewable energy in Europe and around the world, and it starts by divesting from fossil fuels. This will help us end the war in my country and rebuild Ukraine from the war ashes.

Michael Sean Winters: Other news items have pushed the war in Ukraine off the front page, but that should not lead Western nations to push Ukraine into a negotiated peace that would not meet the challenge posed by Putin.

In addressing the violence of Russia's war against Ukraine, the pope is trying to shift our gaze. It is a shift that Jesus models, toward pastoral accompaniment and a focus on how we might break the violent dynamic.

"I know that the rest of the world, when they hope for one person to solve this problem, they look at the pope," Joseph Donnelly told NCR May 16, in his first interview with a U.S. news agency since his arrival in Rome.

It's unclear if the Roman Catholic Church could be a neutral negotiator because of its complicated relationship with Russia's Orthodox Church, which has strong backing from the Russian government.

As Ukraine endured its seventh day of Russia's invasion, Cardinal Pietro Parolin marked the start of the Lenten season on March 2 by offering prayers for "those who suffer and flee before the roar of weapons." 

Michael Sean Winters: Russian President Vladimir Putin traffics in morally obscene lies to justify his invasion of Ukraine. Is he likely to be moved by moral concerns at all?