A collection of 12 articles from the April 2021 edition of La Civiltà Cattolica, the highly respected and oldest Catholic journal published from Rome.

In the April issue we have published Interpreting Reality a previously unknown essay by Jorge Mario Bergoglio from the late 1980s. Bergoglio explains the reasoning behind one of his four principles: reality is greater than the idea.

On the afternoon of March 5, Pope Francis touched down in Baghdad for a four-day visit to Iraq, his first journey in over a year. Antonio Spadaro, our director, has penned a first-hand account of this trip.

Cesare Giraudo’s essay, The Ministry of Women in the Liturgy: ‘Sound Tradition’ and ‘Legitimate Progress’, considers the recent, and important, motu proprio Spiritus Domini, it’s historical context and what it means for lay women and men who exercise the instituted ministries of lector and acolyte.

Seil Oh discusses Pope Francis’ call for an “ecological conversion” in this time of crisis and division; essentially, we are called to rethink the way we live our faith.

Along with the health and economic crisis is another that is only now being widely discussed, some call it post-traumatic stress but others know it as The Spiritual Aftermath of Covid-19 .

Benedict XVI gave us a new expression to describe a Jewish or Muslim person: “other believer.” It indicates a person who does not believe exactly what we believe, but who is also a believer. Felix Körner, continues his series on fraternity explaining how Fratelli Tutti guides us as we speak to, interact with other believers.