Christopher R. Altieri

1 month ago | brownpelicanla.com | Christopher R. Altieri

Coup de théâtre, as the French say, or colpo di scena in Italian, is an unexpected turn in a play or a film, often applied to real life when surprising developments unfold suddenly and to dramatic effect, making life imitate art. The recent movie, Conclave, went for one of these—and it’s tough to say whether it was trying too hard or a little too dans le nez, or perhaps, paradoxically, a little of both—and fell flat, if you ask me. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it.

1 month ago | catholicworldreport.com | Christopher R. Altieri |Joseph M. Hanneman

Cardinals at the Vatican in May 2018. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) Coup de théâtre, as the French say, or colpo di scena in Italian, is an unexpected turn in a play or a film, often applied to real life when surprising developments unfold suddenly and to dramatic effect, making life imitate art. The recent movie, Conclave, went for one of these—and it’s tough to say whether it was trying too hard or a little too dans le nez, or perhaps, paradoxically, a little of both—and fell flat, if you ask me.

1 month ago | catholicworldreport.com | Christopher R. Altieri |Nick Olszyk

(Image: Sean Ang/Unsplash.com)Like it or not, the Church is a power structure—at least that she has a divinely given hierarchical power structure—and the cardinal electors are the ones who must choose the man to sit atop it, under God. It is an immense responsibility, even when the Church is in relatively good order. These days, the Church is not in good order. She has not been in good order for a long while. Truth be told, she has never been in really good order.

1 month ago | catholicworldreport.com | Christopher R. Altieri |George Neumayr

The entrance portal of St. Peter's Parish Church in Radovljica. (Photo: Donald Judge from England/Wikimedia Commons)Friends and readers have asked me who I want to be the next guy, and I’ve responded—artlessly and without any guile—that I have no ’druthers. I don’t know who will get the nod. There is a very real sense in which, as a Catholic and a journalist, I do not care.

1 month ago | catholicworldreport.com | Christopher R. Altieri |Carl Olson

“The one who goes into the conclave a pope, comes out a cardinal.”Handicapping the pope race is at once inevitable and a fool’s errand. Cardinals follow the ceremony during the ordinary public consistory for the creation of new cardinals at St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Dec. 7, 2024. (Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)It is a favorite pastime of scribblers on the beat, and it is the job of the cardinals to be thinking about the next guy pretty much all the time.