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.
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.
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.
For Vatican theologians, the imagined obsolescence of humanity is not a historical prospect to be welcomed or feared, but an intellectual error to be avoided.
Many U.S. bishops remain unwilling to call out Trump's authoritarianism. They would be wise to draw lessons from the Church's history with Italian Fascism.
Leo possesses the mind of a mathematician and canon lawyer. He has the makings of an effective manager—even of a sprawling organization like the Church.
Despite the hopes of Catholic traditionalists, Pope Leo has not undone Francis’s limits on the Latin Mass, but other questions about liturgy remain on the synodal table.
Leo has introduced, in his gentle style, a different way to govern the Vatican—one that is more mindful of the need to work together with all those in the hierarchy.
“As Francis has magnificently shown us, a pope serves the People of God with a total self-giving, ad vitam: in sickness or in health, strong or frail, able-bodied or wheelchair-bound, clear in voice or raspy and breathless.”
'Dignitas Infinita' does have good suggestions for addressing questions about sex, gender, and rights. They just don’t appear in the “Gender Theory” section.
There is an obvious tension between how to be “successful” on social media and how to represent the Catholic faith. Why is the Vatican ignoring this fact?
If the Church wants women to be its allies, it will need to recognize them as protagonists—full subjects with the agency to respond to the call of the Gospel.
The Vatican's hesitancy to admit homosexuals to seminaries may deprive the church of some capable priests, but it might also spare many men the anguish of ministering in an institution that officially shuns them.
Pope Paul comes to his exalted office with superb qualifications. The range and depth of intellect are notable in his voluminous writings; his warm personal concern for human well-being is clearly manifest.
Within a few short hours the new Pontiff had already impressed the world with a lengthy and vigorous papal address, an address that considered all the problems he saw before him
