"To hell with Moscow!” It is manifestly unfair to sum up thus the long and distinguished academic career and ecclesial life of Fr Robert Taft, the American Jesuit of the Byzantine Rite who presided like a colossus at the Pontifical Oriental Institute (PIO) in Rome for 46 years. The greatest contemporary scholar of the Byzantine Rite – author of the six-volume A History of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom – died on All Souls’ Day in retirement at the Jesuit house in Weston, Massachusetts. He was 86.
5:00 AM
The Byzantine Jesuit who stood up to Moscow
Fr Robert Taft was a rare figure in Rome who spoke up for persecuted Ukrainian Catholics
Fr Raymond de Souza
5 min read
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