The Universe in Essays

On the third of October, the Catholic Church relieved Vatican priest Krzysztof Charamsa of his post. The decision came after a news conference during which the former priest informed the public of his relationship with another man. The Church explicitly bars any man with deep-seated homosexual attractions from being a priest and requires all priests to live a celibate life, making Charamsa a dual violation of Church teaching. After being notified of the Church’s decision, the former priest wrote a passionate letter to Pope Francis within which he condemned the Catholic Church and its treatment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Specifically, the Church is “frequently violently homophobic” and that it causes “immeasurable suffering” to homosexual Catholics. The Pope has yet to issue a response.

Prompt: Evaluate the successes and failures of peacekeeping after the First World War.   Cynically speaking – and perhaps realistically speaking as well – peace is an impossible dream, defying all attempts to achieve it. In the case of world affairs following World War I (WWI), peacekeeping was not a successful undertaking. In particular, the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations, and Wilson’s Fourteen Points all failed to achieve peace between nations.