The film, Des hommes et des dieux which recently came out in France and recounts the extraordinary events of the of the monks killed at Tibhirine, has been hugely successful. Card. Angelo Scola Patriarch of Venice This is an answer to those who ask whether a desire for God is still present in our times – […]

“Crises in teaching are not crises of teaching: they reveal a crisis of life and they are crises of life themselves.” Once again it is the genius of a poet like Péguy which, blowing away an array of cliches and superficial analyses, knows how to get to the heart of what at this point is […]

The School of Advanced Studies Society Economy Theology (ASSET), created within the Studium Generale Marcianum of the Patriachate of Venice, is the object of an article by the italian Vaticanist Sandro Magister. On September 5, Cardinal Scola opened in Venice an international conference entitled “The pluralist society,” with lectures by Italian and foreign scholars from […]

Charity in truth is ‘demanded by economic logic’ (CV, n. 36). Benedict XVI gives body to this statement when talking about the ‘principle of gratuitousness’ and ‘the logic of gift as an expression of fraternity’ (CV, n. 36) Thus, at a stroke, two cardinal features of the newness of the conception of ‘overall development’ proposed […]

A lesson in realisim. Such were the eight days of Benedict XVI in the Holy Land. With intrepid courage he placed his hand on the burning contradictions of that grieving land, with the inflexible energy of one who does not give up because he knows that he can build with new bricks. He risked in […]

“This is a problem typical of our globalized society. We’re seeing an unprecedented encounter of people, cultures and religions, which is what I have in mind when I use the phrase meticciato di civiltà – a “hybridization of civiliations.” It’s a historical process currently underway, and its results are by no means certain. There are […]

In this exclusive interview granted to Il Foglio, the Patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Scola, opens to the spirit of the letter of 138 Islamic sages, “A common Word between us and you”, thus putting an end to the discretion observed by the Church up to now. The one exception to that discretion is Cardinal […]

While summer tourists floated through Venice’s timeless splendor this week, the city was also hosting some visitors with little time to waste. Among them was the bishop from Jerusalem warning of the “hemorrhaging” of Christians from the Holy Land. Another prelate told of a letter sent last month by pro-Taliban elements to 50 Pakistani Christian […]

Man walks when he has a good idea of where he is going. However where for the Christian, and generally for religious man, the destination is clear the eternal life towards which from this very moment we are walking nobody can dispose a priori of the steps that lead to it. We do not possess […]

On February 2007 cardinal Scola has met Rabbi Israel Singer and Seyyed Hossein Nasr at a forum sponsored by the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations. Here’s the article appeared in the National Catholic Register by Pete Sheehan. NEW YORK – Despite difficulties, Christianity, Islam and Judaism can work together […]