Today, on Register Radio, in our first segment, we spoke with Ignatius Press president Mark Brumley spoke about the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace’s October 24th document, “Towards Reforming the International and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global Public Authority.” Brumley recently authored his critique of the document in an article at Catholic World Report. Brumley spoke of the Vatican’s ongoing discussion of issues of justice and peace, in particular the idea of a world political authority – an idea which he said was first raised by Pope Pius XII, and has been continued by Pope John XXIII and Pope Benedict XVI. He described the discussion as both concrete and vague, in that it hasn’t addressed the inherent risks that come with a global system such as that.

Brumley also gave listeners a sneak peek of two forthcoming books - one on Pope Benedict XVI, and the other by him. To learn more, you’ll have to listen to Register Radio.

In our second segment, National Catholic Register film critic Steven Greydanus tackled two films currently playing in theaters – The Mighty Macs and Puss in Boots. Greydanus shared his honest assessment of The Mighty Macs – a film that’s garnered a lot of coverage in Catholic circles. Greydanus also shared whether he considered Puss in Boots safe family fare.

At the end, we talked about the 40th anniversary of the release of the novel “The Exorcist,” and recent comments made by the author. Said Greydanus, “There’s an element of horror in Catholicism. There always has been,” citing examples such as Dante’s Inferno and the horror film Nosferatu, which is on the Vatican’s film list. Said Greydanus: “After the pious films of the 1940s and 50s, in The Exorcist we see horrifying evil, and we see that the categories of contemporary society, such as psychology, are completely inadequate to confront it, so there’s a need to return to traditional religion.”