Your First Communion

Dear Nico, It was a lovely surprise to hear that you are going to make your first communion, that you have decided to commune with Jesus, to see the world through his eyes and to be inspired by his vital breath. It is a wonderful choice. I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart! […]

Questions about the Nicene Creed 1700 years later

My friend, you hold in your hands a lucid and daring book, worthy of its provocative title: Le Credo de Nicée est-il toujours croyable? (Is the Nicene Creed still credible?). Paul Fleuret, “barefoot biblical scholar” and “lay Christian in exodus” in his own words, offers us a documented, concise and limpid analysis of the tangled […]

Thoughts in the interim between the death of Pope Francis and the Conclave

Pope Francis rests in peace.  It matters little whether his worn-out body rests in St. Peter’s Basilica or in that of St. Mary Major or in a humble niche in any Rome cemetery. May he rest in peace, in the deep peace of Mother Earth, in the eternal creative peace that sustains and moves the […]

The passover of Jesus and the passover of the universe

1 – We celebrate the passover of Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth, condemned and crucified because of his brotherly and risky life, his liberating and free life, his paschal life. We celebrate the passover of Jesus because we recognize that his life of solidarity and violent death were a passover, a liberating passage from life […]

To Hélène Dupont. Obituary

In the morning of March 22, I received the following email message: “Last night, Hélène left us in her sleep, quietly, just like that. She passed away gently, with no fighting. She was efficient all her life and without making any fuss. We will miss her”. These words express all the essentials with the sober […]

Four Synods and clericalism remains intact

I cannot say that I was disappointed by the Synod’s Final Document on Synodality, because disappointment is only possible when there are expectations. But I feel deeply sorry for so many men and women (especially women) who had said to themselves, “This time yes, the Synod will succeed! May God be blessed!” Yes, may Life, […]

Facing the horror of Gaza, one year later

There are no words to express it, only astonishment and questions: how have we all arrived, each one on his own path of misdirection, at this madness that plunges two brotherly peoples into this escalation of hatred and revenge, of despair and death? How have Israel and Palestine become a tragic parable of the misfortune […]

Should we be erasing Abbé Pierre’s name for good?

The erasing has begun: the Fondation Abbé Pierre has decided to change its name. Emmaüs has closed the memorial dedicated to him in Esteville, near Rouen, and is going to change its logo. But beyond that, a vast name change movement has been launched across the country. Is it necessary? Is anything else possible? Abbé […]

The Synod at a dead end

I did not expect that this fourth Synod of Pope Francis’ pontificate, like the first three, would take a decisive step towards the urgent and absolutely necessary institutional reform of the Roman Catholic Church. Considering what we have seen so far, I could not think that he could carry out the indispensable condition of such […]

Excommunicating the Poor Clares in 2024?

I find the story of the convent of the Poor Clare Sisters of Belorado over the last few months both ludicrous and distressing. Whichever way you look at it, it is distressing for the Poor Clare Sisters. Ludicrous, as far as all the other players are concerned. The figure of the “schismatic” bishop accompanied by […]