Religion

Article

Whatever Happened to Synodality?

If their latest meeting is any indication, U.S. bishops may be letting synodality fade—even on issues as important as the abuse crisis.

By Heidi Schlumpf

June 18, 2026

Synodality

Sexual-abuse Crisis

U.S. Catholicism

Article

A Missing Dimension

When Greg Grandin reduces Gustavo Gutiérrez and Pope Benedict XVI to political figures, he neglects what's most important about their work.

By Paul Baumann

June 16, 2026

Article

Changing the Calculus of Power

As the midterm elections approach, the Church must embrace more explicitly political strategies to combat Trump's war on immigrants.

By Heidi Schlumpf

June 12, 2026

Article

Toward a Civilization of Love

In 'Magnifica humanitas,' Pope Leo presents a genuinely universalist civilizational discourse, calling for a social order whose guiding principle is love.

By Frank Pasquale

June 10, 2026

Article

Featured Voices

Meet the men and women, laity and clergy alike, featured in "The City and the Cross."

By The Editors

June 10, 2026

podcast

U.S. Catholicism

Article

Cathedral Thinking

Antoni Gaudí’s vision for the Sagrada Família is a prime example of the creativity Pope Leo praises in 'Magnifica humanitas.'

By Vanessa R. Corcoran

June 9, 2026

Religion

Culture

Pope Leo XIV

Article

The City and the Cross

In this three-part narrative podcast series, inaugural Centennial Fellow Aaron Robertson chronicles the rise, erosion, and defiant survival of Black Catholic Detroit.

By Aaron Robertson

June 8, 2026

podcast

U.S. Catholicism

Article

Mild & Bold

… its mission. First, Magnifica humanitas is marked by a thoroughgoing emphasis on the … though not always linear, development that is marked by different emphases, progressive …

By Kevin Gallagher

June 8, 2026

Magnifica humanitas

Artificial Intelligence

Technology

Pope Leo XIV

Religion

Article

Coming Clean

Why did Pope Leo apologize for the Church's role in slavery in an encyclical about artificial intelligence?

By John T. McGreevy

June 4, 2026

Magnifica humanitas

Artificial Intelligence

Race

Pope Leo XIV

Religion

Article

Will the Encyclical Reach ‘People of Goodwill’?

If the Church itself does not recognize the full humanity of half its own members, how can it expect Silicon Valley and heads of state to respect its sermon on human dignity?

By Heidi Schlumpf

May 29, 2026

Magnifica humanitas

Pope Leo XIV

Artificial Intelligence

Women in the Church

Article

A ‘Leonine’ Version of Synodality?

It is necessary to have a pontiff with a strong political voice. But what will Leo's political prominence augur for the prospects of a more synodal Church?

By Massimo Faggioli

May 29, 2026

Article

Pope Leo and the ‘Babel Syndrome’

What Leo XIII did for wages and the right of association, Leo XIV does for the human person in the era of the algorithm.

By Antonio Spadaro

May 27, 2026

Artificial Intelligence

Article

Repairing the Broken

The ICU is the setting for so many disasters. There, Christ speaks to us when we're at our most broken.

By Luke Tomycz

May 27, 2026

The Last Word

Article

Down to Earth

Raphael's art places us at the precise point where humanity and divinity converge.

By Griffin Oleynick

May 27, 2026

Arts

Religion

Article

Armed and Dangerous

Pope Leo's call for disarmament leaves room for the possibility that AI can have good uses. But those uses can only be discovered by those who work for flourishing communities.

By John P. Slattery

May 27, 2026

Artificial Intelligence

Article

Seeing What’s Not There

At Trump's Rededicate 250 event, religious leaders insisted that America was founded as a Christian nation. The claim doesn't withstand historical scrutiny.

By Steven P. Millies

May 26, 2026

History

Religion

Politics

Article

The Way You Let Go

October 2025 saw the first known transfer of Church-owned land to a tribal nation as an explicit act of reparation. What can the experiment teach the rest of the Church?

By Regina Munch

May 26, 2026

Article

Love Without Reward

Can a theology of mourning keep Christians facing the decline of "the Christian West" from living in the past?

By Paul Lakeland

May 25, 2026

Theology

Death and Dying

Books

Article

‘As an Emerald Is Green’

What does Christian love have to do with the austere, endless cool of a green crystal? More than you might first think.

By Ellen Wayland-Smith

May 25, 2026

Spirituality

Theology

Article

The Pope, the President, and Our Democratic Crisis

With autocracy on the rise, Pope Leo has an opportunity to rearticulate the Church’s positive teaching on democracy.

By Thomas Banchoff, Massimo Faggioli

May 25, 2026

Pope Leo XIV

Politics

History

Article

Christening Mammon

The Vatican Bank's new investment guidelines may only reinforce the perception that the Church cares more about bioethics than any other moral issues.

By Matt Mazewski

May 25, 2026

Economy

Vatican

Article

A Catholic Affirmation of Liberal Democracy

The moment has arrived for a new papal document that would offer a comprehensive Catholic condemnation of authoritarianism and a moral defense of liberal democracy.

By Stephen F. Schneck

May 22, 2026

Article

Reviving the Pro-Life Democrat

If Democrats want to create a durable coalition for a more just society, they must be willing to acknowledge the moral seriousness of pro-life convictions.

By Timothy Kirchoff

May 22, 2026

Abortion

Religion

Politics

Article

Colbert the Critic

By serving as a voice for truth and challenging Americans to think critically about complex political issues, Colbert will go down in history as more than a comedian.

By Heidi Schlumpf

May 19, 2026

Television

Culture

Politics

Article

‘The Real Thing’

Among twentieth-century British artists, there seemed to be a mad rush to Rome. A new book endeavors to explain this explosion in Catholic conversions.

By Anthony Domestico

May 19, 2026

Books

Religion

Literature

Article

Leaning into Catholic Identity

These are tough times for Catholic colleges and universities. A commitment to educating the whole person remains the best path forward.

By Heidi Schlumpf

May 13, 2026

Higher Education

Religion

Culture

Article

‘No to War!’

Leo’s Catholic critics tend to focus on just-war theory, while ignoring the support of the last several popes for international law and a world governing authority.

By Santiago Ramos

May 8, 2026

Article

Catholic Cliques

"On many days I wish I liked Catholics more, and I guess I wish my fellow Catholics had liked me more."

By Paul Baumann

May 7, 2026

Religion

Politics

Culture

Article

Leo Looks to the Council

Pope Leo’s emphasis on Vatican II reminds us that American Catholics have long sought a meaningful synthesis between Catholicism and democracy.

By Stephen McNulty

May 5, 2026

Vatican II

Pope Leo XIV

Article

Praying with Mary in Pompeii

On the anniversary of his papal election, Pope Leo will eschew a formal commemoration to preside over Mass at a Marian shrine in Pompeii.

By Vanessa R. Corcoran

May 5, 2026

Religion

Pope Leo XIV

Article

A Treasure Hidden in Plain Sight

In our age of authoritarian certainty, divinity schools have an important role to play in constructing a liberal vision of human flourishing.

By Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

May 5, 2026

Article

Black Spirituality and Community in a Digital Age

A virtual panel moderated by Centennial Fellow Aaron Robertson

By The Editors

May 5, 2026

Article

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Senate candidate James Talarico’s faith-first approach to public service may offer a path out of our toxic politics. But first, he’ll have to win Texas.

By Dominic Preziosi

May 5, 2026

Religion

Politics

Article

Leo vs. the Americanists

The clashes between Leo and the Trump administration underscore how U.S. Catholics have come to behave as though they are religious authorities unto themselves.

By David Gibson

May 1, 2026

Article

Ross Douthat Delivers 19th Annual Commonweal Lecture

The author and 'New York Times' columnist discussed the Catholic Church’s place in the landscape of U.S. politics and culture today.

By The Editors

April 30, 2026

News

Article

The Loom of Literature

Pope Francis knew that literature is one of the rare human practices still able to establish a common ground.

By Antonio Spadaro

April 30, 2026

Article

Pope and President, at Odds Again?

Trump keeps pushing policies that are opposed by Catholic teaching—and this U.S.-born pope doesn’t seem to be willing to keep quiet about them.

By Heidi Schlumpf

April 28, 2026

Article

The ‘Great Sort’ in American Religion

Political scientist and statistician Ryan Burge discusses polarization, declining institutions, and the future of religion in the United States.

By Heidi Schlumpf

April 27, 2026

Interview

U.S. Catholicism

Politics

Article

A Proper Education

In fiction and nonfiction by Black American Catholics, the parochial school looms large as a place of education, formation, and conversion—for good or ill.

By Aaron Robertson

April 27, 2026

Article

Perpetua Adoration

Sarah Ruden depicts a St. Perpetua concerned above all with expressing herself. This is a saint who can fit on a coffee mug.

By Eve Tushnet

April 27, 2026

Article

Manufactured Matriarch

James D. Tabor's new book promises a 'rediscovery' of Mary. His claims are extravagantly speculative.

By Luke Timothy Johnson

April 26, 2026

Theology

Books

Religion

Article

On Dubious Analogies

President Trump’s supporters have offered some implausible scenarios on the likely outcome of his war with Iran—as well as some wild justifications for it.

By Paul Baumann

April 24, 2026

War and Peace

Donald Trump

Politics

Article

Tennyson’s Honest Doubt

Alfred Tennyson’s faith was shaken as scientific discoveries redefined his world. But a crisis of faith isn’t always a conquest of it.

By Todd Shy

April 23, 2026

Books

Secularism and Modernity

Poetry

Article

The Case for Lay Preaching

Allowing lay preaching in the pulpit during Sunday liturgy would model that the Church is serious about synodality.

By Heidi Schlumpf

April 23, 2026

Women in the Church

U.S. Catholicism

Liturgy

Article

‘Cool’ Catholicism?

The growing number of adult baptisms in European and the United States has caught the notice of Church leaders who are attentive to even the smallest signs of revival.

By Massimo Faggioli

April 23, 2026

Article

In Praise of a Political Church

… agreed with that last phrase, saying in an interview aboard the papal plane to Africa, “I … three active U.S. cardinals in a 60 Minutes interview that likely prompted Trump’s … want to preach the Gospel.” Earlier in the interview Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark …

By Heidi Schlumpf

April 22, 2026