Pope Francis smiled a lot, easily and broadly. He thrived on direct, informal encounters: phone calls, penned notes, hugs, audiences with small groups. He was impatient with protocol: he carried his own overnight bag, bused his own tray at the cafeteria, and answered reporters’ questions in his own words, extemporaneously. He was attentive, determined, testy, … Read more
Every morning, a line forms at about six outside the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, on West Thirty-first Street, near Penn Station, as it has done (with a few exceptions) since 1930; on average, there are two hundred and fifty people, mostly men in various states of need. At seven, a bell is rung … Read more
Since Inauguration Day, as President Trump has sought to break the federal government, Christian leaders—tangling with Trump and, particularly, with his Vice-President, J. D. Vance—have wound up in a public dustup over the nature of charity. The dispute was brought into view on the Tuesday after the Inauguration, when, during a prayer service at the … Read more
