Commentary
The German debate – The Catholic Thing
Joseph Ratzinger had an enormous impact on the Universal Church – as a theologian and as pope. Yet as consequential as his papacy was, it can be argued that the most important event of his post-conciliar career took place when he was still a…
A Catholic perspective on Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine’
We hope the administration heeds Pope Leo XIV’s reminder that the long-standing priorities of promoting democracy and upholding human rights around the world shouldn’t be discarded at the expense of hemispherical hegemony. It’s certainly not the…
Jews in America: 250 years of overcoming prejudice with defiance
From scapegoating during the Revolutionary War to last week’s arson attack on a Mississippi synagogue, Jews have fought for their place in American life, and the American story has never been free of antisemitism. But from the country’s earliest…
Jimmy Lai: The Evangelist in Stanley Prison
George Weigel, National Catholic Register Thursday, January 15, 2026 In a 1974 address to a group of lay Catholics, St. Pope Paul VI noted that “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers,…
There’s no sex discrimination without sex
In a properly functioning constitutional republic, the Supreme Court’s job is to read legal texts; matters of elementary common sense are left to the people and their representatives. But our era’s cultural complaints sometimes require the…
Church History Does Not Support Trump’s Expansionism
Edward Feser, First Things Wednesday, January 14, 2026 The Trump administration’s recent military engagement with Venezuela and rhetoric with respect to Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, and Greenland mark a new bellicosity in foreign policy, and one at…
Evil and modernity’s unbelief – The Catholic Thing
Larry Chapp, What We Need Now Wednesday, January 14, 2026 The Church might indeed be a field hospital, but all too often these days it resembles a hospice for those with a dying faith rather than a center of restorative health that generates a…
Was Maduro’s arrest legal? – The Catholic Thing
Mark Movsesian, First Things Tuesday, January 13, 2026 How can the United States arrest a foreign head of state for violating U.S. narcotics laws when the alleged conduct occurred outside the country, and the foreign state did not consent to the…
Abp. Gänswein says he hopes for Benedict XVI’s beatification
Bryan Lawrence Gonsalves, Catholic News Agency Tuesday, January 13, 2026 Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the apostolic nuncio to the Baltic states and longtime personal secretary to Pope Benedict XVI, said he now prays not just for but to the late…
How Our Lady (and Mother Teresa) helped break communism’s grip on Albania
For most Catholics, December 8 is known as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. In Albania, the same date carries an additional meaning. It marks the student protests of Dec. 8, 1990 – later commemorated as National Youth Day – the first…