Massimo Faggioli is a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University and a contributing editor to Commonweal magazine.
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Two Key Takeaways From Pope Francis’ TED Talk
Image via RNS/Creative Commons/Bret Hartman/TED
The talk — a surprise for all in the audience — recapitulated the key themes of the Argentinian pope’s view of the human person: We are all related and interconnected; scientific and technological progress must not be disconnected from social justice and care for the neighbor; and that the world needs tenderness.
I am a scholar of modern Catholicism and its relations with the world of today. From my perspective, there are two essential elements of this talk that are important to understand: the message of the pope and his use of the media.
Parallel Lives? Trump, Meet Berlusconi
Image via RNS/Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election has few parallels in the history of contemporary politics in the Western world.
But the closest one is familiar to me: Silvio Berlusconi, the media tycoon who was elected prime minister of Italy — my homeland — for the first time on March 27, 1994 and who served four stints as prime minister until 2011.