The Holy Father’s general intention for the month of May

That Christians may use literature, art and the media to greater advantage to favour a culture which defends and promotes the values of the human person.
Please pray for this, and for the Holy Father’s monthly intentions in general. (For a list, see here).

The importance of culture

Much of the reason behind this blog is to help remind fellow Catholics of the rich cultural heritage we have (often at the same time as I learn about it and gain more and more appreciation for it). But why is this cultural heritage important? What does culture have to do with faith?
Let’s consider Ireland [...]

Ars Papa

From the Pope’s remarks at the end of a concert celebrating the third anniversary of his pontificate. 
But authentic art, like prayer, does not alienate us from the reality of every day, but rather enables us to return to our routine in order to ‘irrigate’ it and make it sprout to bear fruits of goodness and [...]

Hawthorne and the Pope

As pointed out by the commenter Dan over at Amy Welborn’s blog, the pope extensively paraphrased some imagery from Nathaniel Hawthorne, the American anti-transcendentalist writer (the imagery is well worth a read). Now Hawthorne is much better known for stories that are haunted with the past of American puritanism, and his novels and stories are [...]