The readings for this Sunday’s Solemnity of Christ the King deal with questions of sovereignty and dominion. Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories have struggled with similar questions for decades, and their inability to agree on a lasting peace has led to yet another in a long series . . .

As Roman Catholics this Sunday celebrate the feast of Christ the King, a church solemnity marking the transition from one liturgical year to the next, Coptic Christians in Egypt have transitions both liturgical and constitutional on their minds these days. Last Sunday in a ceremony rich in ritual . . .

The psalmist assures us this Sunday that the Lord’s “decrees are worthy of trust indeed.” President Barack Obama Monday hailed Myanmar’s worthy progress toward democracy in his first visit to the Southeast Asian country also known . . .

In this Sunday’s first reading the prophet Daniel relates a vision in which he “saw one like the Son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven." Such a vision today might be clouded by the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere , which hit a record high in 2011 . . .

“If they wouldn't have been there for me, I would have been starving to death.”

A recent Gallup Poll reports that Americans say they will spend an average of $770 on Christmas gifts this year. The pollster also estimates that holiday retail sales will rise between 3.5 and 3.7 percent.