Pope Leo XIV
Coherence in Continuity – The Catholic Thing
Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, was released earlier this week. It is long for an encyclical, and unexpected in some ways. It is worth reading, worth sitting with. What follows is not a summary, still less a “review” of the…
Seven Takeaways from Magnifica Humanitas – Religion & Liberty Online
The Second Vatican Council grappled with how to approach the “signs of the times” in Gaudium et Spes, giving the following warning: The modern world shows itself at once powerful and weak, capable of the noblest deeds or the foulest; before it…
The Perennial Question: “Who Is Man?”
Modern philosophy flatters itself by claiming it was responsible for the “turn to the subject,” i.e., the human (and, usually, a very subjective understanding of the human). But focus on the human is hardly a modern discovery. St. Irenaeus, a…
Ever Ancient, Ever New – The Catholic Thing
St. Augustine famously wrote of having come late to the Beauty that is God: tam antiqua, tam nova (“So ancient, so new”). It’s a brilliant and profound way of expressing the truth that the deepest Good is not in the past or in the future, but by…
‘Synodal Shepherds’ Attack the Sheep
The Catholic Church is accustomed to attacks upon her teaching. The history of heresy over the centuries reveals the never-ending efforts of those who seek to replace Catholic doctrine with various errors. What the Church has only recently…
Marco Rubio Meets Pope Leo XIV At Vatican After Trump Criticizes Pontiff Over Iran, Immigration
A diplomatic visit to the Vatican quickly turned into a high-profile test of the growing divide between President Donald Trump and the first American-born pope. Secretary of State Marco Rubio kicked off a two-day visit to Vatican City and Italy…
If I Were Created a Cardinal
If I were created a Cardinal and dispensed from the canonical requirement to be ordained a deacon or priest – my vocation is as a layperson – this is how I would counsel the Holy Father on the first anniversary of his pontificate. “Holy Father,…
Respecting Boundaries, Papal and Political
The feud between Pope Leo and President Trump over U.S. immigration policy and military action in Iran raises important questions about the propriety of observing boundaries and not crossing certain lines. Little needs to be said about the…
The Politics of Shill – The Catholic Thing
The pope may be many things in many contexts, but he should avoid becoming a shill for the Democratic Party. This is how he came across when he delivered a political statement just after he had been visited by David Axelrod, Obama’s…
What’s Driving the Easter Convert Surge?
This Holy Week edition of The Prayerful Posse dives into the global surge in Catholic converts—and why so many young people are returning to the Church. Raymond Arroyo, Father Gerald Murray, and Robert Royal explore the cultural forces behind…