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The pope of hope
“It may be that people aren’t paying much attention because of his age—he’s almost 81 now. But this is no caretaker Pope biding time until a more youthful helmsman can be found for St. Peter’s barque.”
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Madonnas of a modernist
“While nobody would claim Joseph Stella as anything like an orthodox believer, there is something biblical, even liturgical, about his Madonnas. His is the Mary of the ancient litanies.”
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Watt’s up!?
“Within less than a hundred years, the world was burning the midnight oil. Cities never slept again.” A review of the exhibit, Light! The Industrial Age: 1750–1900, Art & Science, Technology & Society. |
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On the wrong day
“The makers of Entertaining Angels have complained that Hollywood wasn’t ready for the hard-core religious message of Dorothy Day’s life. But neither were they” A review of the film, Entertaining Angels. |
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A life hidden with God
“Charles’ beatification caps a life that for many years seemed less an imitatio Christi than a playing of the lead role in Christ’s most famous parable. Charles is among the great prodigal children in Church history.” |
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Pictures at an inquisition
“As Rome correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, Allen’s reporting is usually competent and fair-minded. But this book is neither.” A review of Cardinal Ratzinger by John L. Allen, Jr. |
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He sang of the hidden God
“In the end, the poet enraptured by the Word, the pope who wrote more words than any before him, left without a word. He had passed over. From words to the Word.” |
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Finding joy in the darkest night
“No other saint spoke or wrote as much about smiling as Mother Teresa did. But after she died and was put on the fast-track for sainthood, we learned how much we didn’t know about her.” |
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Inherited estates
“But all the ironic humor is a foil to the probing of dark psychological questions, mostly about the complexities of paternity: How far can the apple fall from the tree?” A review of Nobody’s Fool, by Richard Russo. |
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Her saving grace
“. . . in defining Mary’s Immaculate Conception he was writing a new charter for the modernworld. The dogma was a piece of resistance, a defiant vow to resist the false spirit of the emerging age. . .” |
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In her end, the promise of our beginnings
“On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII declared a new dogma of the Catholic Church. But it was Protestants, not Catholics, who set the tone for the world’s reaction. And Protestant reaction was just this side of apocalyptic. . .” |