International Affairs

Britain Can Benefit from Benedict

On May 13, 2004, a septuagenarian German intellectual gave a lecture in the Capital Room of the Italian Senate. Ironies — or at least paradoxes — abounded. The lecturer was

In Defense of Israel's Legitimacy

Last month, I was happy to join with former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, Nobel Peace Prize laureate David Trimble, Italian philosopher and political leader Marcello Pera, and several

Surrounded by Martyrs

CRACOW. A lot has changed over the twenty years I’ve been coming to this beautiful city. The grayness and disrepair that were by-products of communism have been replaced by architectural

Israel: A Normal Country

The following statement has been signed by Jose Maria Aznar, David Trimble, John R. Bolton, Alejandro Toledo, Marcello Pera, Andrew Roberts, Fiamma Nirenstein, George Weigel, Robert F. Agostinelli and Carlos

Catholic revival in Europe?

In mid-May, Pope Benedict XVI made an apostolic pilgrimage to Portugal; half a million people attended the outdoor papal Mass at Fatima. When the Pope returned to Rome, two hundred

Courage in Quebec

Quietly but often forcefully, senior churchmen speak of Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the archbishop of Quebec City and thus the Primate of Canada, as papabile: a man-with-the-makings-of-a-pope. The thought would doubtless

Trouble For the Church, and Democracy, In Ukraine

In 1999, prior to the Leonid Kuchma's second inauguration as president of Ukraine, a prayer meeting involving all confessional leaders of the newly independent country was held at the Church

Troubles in Ukraine

Shortly before the first round of voting in Ukraine’s hotly contested presidential election, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, the Greek Catholic major archbishop of L’viv and a man widely admired throughout Ukrainian

Storm Clouds in Ukraine

Public expressions of piety at civic events may tell us something about a culture, but they rarely disclose geopolitical ambitions or strategic designs. One exception to that general rule of

A Legal Travesty in Poland

A few years ago, Alicja Tysiac, a Polish woman who suffers from severe myopia, tried to obtain an abortion, arguing that carrying the child to term posed a grave risk

Scoundrel Time(s)

The sexual and physical abuse of children and young people is a global plague; its manifestations run the gamut from fondling by teachers to rape by uncles to kidnapping-and-sex-trafficking. In

Advice for Europe – And For Us

At an international symposium in honor of the late Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, held in Paris on February 11, I offered closing remarks on what the Church might do to combat

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