New rules from the NYS Education Department threaten the independence and even the existence of private religious schools.

The passing of George H.W. Bush, our forty-first president, has moved me. I’ve always admired him. While working at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, I got to meet him a number of times, since, as vice president, he lived across the street, and then, as president, my boss, the papal nuncio, would often be in contact with him.

Four elegantly crafted busts of the four popes to have visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral will now greet the cathedral’s five million annual visitors as they enter the north and south vestibules on Fifth Avenue. Papal visits are rare, defining moments in New York City’s history. From Papal Masses at Yankees Stadium to the iconic popemobile making its way to Central Park, no image is more indelibly linked to a papal visit than the pope’s arrival at the spiritual center of the city, St. Patrick’s Cathedral. These four busts of Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis are intended to memorialize these historic visits, as well as their significance to the cathedral, the city and, the generations of people they encountered.

In Advent, we hear the prophets anticipating the coming of the Prince of Peace. But America is now in our seventeenth year of war, and there is virtually no discussion about it in the political arena. It is vitally important that our nation have a debate about this, and there is a particular need for pro-lifers and Catholics to be part of that debate.