Jeanie Hannaman

By Scott Hahn, First Things - It’s been thirty-eight years since I began to get used to having a bishop. I like it. In my former, evangelical world, I had nothing like a bishop. The pastor held the fairly undivided attention of his little flock. But he might be idiosyncratic and far different, in significant ways, from other pastors nearby. A bishop, by contrast, transcends differences. He is father to all his pastors. He is father to all their flocks... A bishop is a focal point for Catholics in a given region. He may not be universally liked. (Who is?) But he provides a point of reference for everyone. He can get their attention and, to some degree, set an agenda for their concerns. What he talks about, they’ll talk about, even when they disagree with him.

Fr. Raymond J. de Souza, First Things - Last month, the chief rabbi of Rome accused Pope Francis of “selective indignation” in his comments about the Israel-Hamas war. “A pope cannot divide the world into children and stepchildren and must denounce the sufferings of all,” Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni said. “This is exactly what the pope does not do.”... The same charge was made when the Holy Father gave his “State of the World” address to the diplomats accredited to the Holy See in January. The persecution of Catholics in China was a “glaring omission,” stated the Pillar. When Pope Francis recently wrote to the U.S. bishops about the Trump administration’s deportation policy, the issue of China arose again.