Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), made the following remark as part of a longer statement about the violence in the United States Capitol: “I [...]

“Pope Blesses Gay Weddings”, declares the headline in Metro, one of Britain’s largest newspapers, over the subhead, “Homosexuals Are Children of God … They Have a Right To Civil Unions”. True? Accurate? Close enough? Not [...]

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, [...]

The highly anticipated and now much discussed post-synodal apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia struck me as mostly workmanlike. That’s not to dismiss the importance of the text, or to overlook significant passages. Nor is it to [...]

“The Word took on our humanity and in exchange human nature was raised to the divine dignity. The second act of the exchange consists in our real and intimate participation in the divine nature of [...]

There has been a fair amount of discussion and commentary among Catholics in recent years about “Nones,” notably the work of Bishop Robert Barron, who last week “outlined five paths Church leaders should take to [...]

Update (Sept. 11, 2019): A full CNA transcript of the in-flight papal press conference from Madagascar is now available. Almost six years ago, in October 2013, I wrote my first piece critical of Pope Francis—a [...]

“At any given moment,” wrote the author, translator, and publisher Frank Sheed in The Church and I (1974), “one or other special problem looms to complicate things for the Church, looms and fades. But throughout [...]

Reaction to the unexpected release of a lengthy text—almost exactly 6,000 words in all—by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, titled “The Church and the scandal of sexual abuse”, has been both swift and polarized. Some have [...]

“Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2113 “For the grace of God has [...]

I haven’t written an editorial since late July, in part because of the heavy and unceasing flood of news—most of it bad and some of it terrible—within the Church. In my last editorial, posted on [...]

This is not a time for silence, mediocrity, or fear for the laity or the bishops. The rot and corruption must be outed; the truth [...]

We need essential media coverage that can be trusted, but it's increasingly hard to trust mainstream media outlets to do such basic journalistic work. [...]

The Gala at the Met was a sad attempt to pretend, to think (or feel, more likely) that colorful celebration and rampant symbolism can capture [...]

The many good qualities and substantive passages in Gaudete et Exsultate are often overshadowed, or even undermined, by straw men, dubious arguments, and cheap shots. [...]

Will Pope Francis correct the German Cardinal, who has stated that Catholic priests can conduct blessing ceremonies for homosexual couples and says "we have no [...]

There seems little doubt, at this point, that 2018 is going to witness yet another great clash over Paul VI's encyclical—arguably the most contested and [...]

The well-known Jesuit priest and author insists that Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy is a "dissenter". That would be funny if it wasn't so stupid. [...]

How I learned that reading and studying the Catechism, Church doctrine and dogma, and theology are not ultimately about knowing things or facts but about knowing [...]

The Left always seeks to claim and re-name the moral high ground, but has no objective foundations for its radical political project [...]

I’m not an expert—not even close—on Australian politics or Catholicism Down Under, but over the past few years I’ve carried on correspondence with a number of Catholics in Australia. And these folks, all of them [...]

There is a reason the Creed is recited every Sunday. And to defend and hold to doctrine is not only not ideological, it is part [...]

Back in the early 1840s, John Henry Newman observed that physical philosophers—that is, scientists—”are ever inquiring whence things are, not why; referring them to nature, not to mind; and thus they tend to make a [...]

A couple of weeks ago I came across the following, written by Oscar Wilde some 125 years or so ago: In old days men had the rack. Now they have the press. That is an [...]

Just yesterday I was lamenting to some colleagues about how weary I’ve become of the ongoing and escalating debate over Amoris Laetitia and its interpretation. “I would be happy,” I said, “to not write of [...]

Author’s note: This essay is a response to Carl E. Olson’s January 6, 2021 CWR editorial titled “Who are we, really, as Americans?” New Tribalism There is much confusion in America today, and our citizens [...]

The life and papacy of Saint John Paul II have had an immense impact on the Church after the Second Vatican Council and beyond. One only has to look at his contributions and personal witness [...]

It has been an apocalyptic year. As one who teaches theology and ethics, and writes biblical commentary too, permit me to explain that an “apocalypse,” properly speaking, is not a disaster, a scene of death [...]

The political philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre once observed that the surest obstacle preventing someone from seeing the “facts” in front of them is their particular theoretical vision of the world. In other words, if I am [...]

Obedience is not necessarily a virtue. It did not excuse the Nazis at Nuremberg, who were just ‘following orders’. Just as Serviam has its exceptions and nuances, so too Non Serviam can be firmly stated [...]

According to Christopher F. Rufo, the San Diego Unified School District is requiring teachers to attend “white privilege” trainings where they are taught that they are racists. The captive audience is also taught they are [...]

“Stab, smite, slay!” roared Luther. Such was his advice to the German aristocracy during the notorious Peasants’ Revolt. Some of the latter doubtless had it coming, and Luther could justify his advice theologically with his [...]

In mid-August, I attended an online presentation by a Catholic nun on “Race and the Catholic Church.” The presenter—I’ll call her “Sister”—was a theology professor who had taught at a nearby Catholic university. I approached [...]

On June 5, 2019, I spoke to JL, who was working on the McCarrick Report, and who was referred to me by a priest friend. Father told him that I had made a report to [...]

Before I finish this article, it will be obvious how my family and I will vote on November 3, and why. But I’ll also speak of a man whose Catholic faith and public service I [...]

The Abu Dhabi Declaration, last year’s ”Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” has been a notorious source of controversy in the Catholic Church. It is backed now by Pope Francis’s new [...]

In a September 23rd America magazine piece entitled “Electing Republicans has not reversed Roe v. Wade. It’s time to change our strategy” DePaul University professor William Cavanaugh claims pro-life advocates should abandon the goal of [...]

Many thoughtful discussions about the difficult choice facing Catholics in the upcoming presidential election make reference to, and argue about the meaning of, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ teaching document, “Forming Consciences for [...]

Much has been made of the religious faith of Amy Coney Barrett. And there are many people on the Right who are criticizing those folks in the Senate (and rightly so) who questioned her about [...]

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. — Hos 4:6 Nature abhors a vacuum. —A Postulate of Aristotle Let no [...]

Until three months ago, an attempted leftist takeover of American cities seemed a remote possibility. It seemed even less likely that, as the lawlessness spread, prominent voices in our society would join the radicals in [...]

Today, the longing for “normal” is practically palpable. This virus, and all its social ramifications, taints all of life with the abnormal – from wearing a face covering to elbow bumping, and from contact tracing [...]

I very much appreciate Archbishop Viganò taking the time to respond to my article that appeared in Inside the Vatican on July 27, 2020. However, I found his response, posted on August 10th at Inside [...]

The aftermath of the wrongful death of George Floyd has unfortunately seen another wrong: the perception of too many police officers as villains. Police are feeling it, painfully. Many of them are blaming not just [...]

“Of all the sad and surreal things to happen in the past few months,” writes Mary Wakefield in The Spectator, “the Catholic church’s decision to abandon the dying was, for me, the worst.” Wakefield goes [...]

A new EWTN film about the Jesuit priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89) seeks to introduce the unique nineteenth-century Victorian-era writer to a wider audience. The film was made by Dr. Andrew Nash, who [...]

If it is true, as writer Ross Douthat would have it, that we live in an age of decadence characterized by sterile remakes, reboots, and revivals of earlier artistic works, it is also true that [...]

“When I am falling asleep, I still imagine that I am responding to my mother’s Ave Maria … I pray for an hour every day, sometimes even more. It is the first thing that I [...]

The new film Fátima (in theaters and on demand August 28), from filmmaker Marco Pontecorvo, is the first major screen adaptation of the story of the Fátima apparitions and the Miracle of the Sun in [...]

“The anti-choice movement will have a field-day with this and exploit it for all it’s worth.” These are words of Kate Michelman, former head of the National Abortion Rights Action League, spoken on the August [...]

Update (September 1, 2020): The film PRAY: The Story of Patrick Peyton will be released in theaters on October 9th. See the film’s website for further details.  Family Theater Productions is preparing for the theatrical [...]

Editor’s note: This article contains spoilers for season four of The Good Place. If you’ve watched the fourth and final season of NBC’s The Good Place, you already know that the show seems to end [...]

“Where the Bible comes to life” is the slogan of Sight & Sound Theatres, headquartered in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the heart of Amish country. Their growing repertoire of Biblical stage extravaganzas — among them [...]

Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel Little Women has been adapted numerous times for the big and small screens; even those who have never cracked open the book know and love the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, [...]

In Thomas Aquinas’ treatment of the virtue of courage, he argues that endurance—“which is the capacity to stand immovable in the face of dangers”—rather than attack, is the chief mark of courage. Among the reasons [...]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is not a good movie. Its frenetic pace rushes us through a convoluted plot, any particular moment of which has its own problems. The plausibility of the plot and [...]

I could write a pamphlet, perhaps even a short book, about all the factual errors and distortions in Brazilian director Fernando Mereilles’ film The Two Popes. However, despite the film’s numerous inaccuracies, a couple of [...]

For those who grew up a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the final episode in the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker, promises an emotional conclusion to what was a [...]

Everyone who grew up in America between 1968 and 2001 was likely touched by the classic children’s TV series “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” starring a soft-spoken Presbyterian minister named Fred Rogers. Rogers was concerned about the [...]

Love and Mercy – Faustina, a docudrama about the Divine Mercy and Saint Faustina Kowalska, will open for a single day only in more than 700 U.S. theaters nationwide on Monday, October 28th. The Divine [...]

In her book The White Album (Simon & Schuster, 1979), Joan Didion writes that “the Sixties ended… at the exact moment when word” of the Manson murders circulated. In his current film Once Upon a [...]

Quentin Tarantino has spent the last decade rewriting American history. His business is now poetic justice: the oppressed return in time, through Hollywood, to punish their historical oppressors. Inglorious Basterds (2009) had Jews kill Hitler, [...]

[Editor’s note: Minor spoilers alert!] Season 3 of Stranger Things ends with an apology for itself. The closing soliloquy on change, growing up and moving on doubles as a self-conscious excuse for the show’s decline. [...]

This week The Office, the Steve-Carrell-led TV satire, made headlines to the tune of fan outrage when it was announced that Netflix lost its long-held rights to the show when the streaming service was outbid [...]

With the premiere of Stranger Things 3 upon us—the new season will be released tomorrow—there are plenty of good reasons why Catholics might not tune in. You already well know the foremost of these: “the [...]

Over the next several days, pro-lifers across the country will gather to mourn the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Thousands will join peaceful vigils outside abortion clinics or march in state capitals. Although the [...]

While many major pro-life marches across the country typically held in January are being cancelled, the Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco, according to organizer Eva Muntean, appears to be going ahead.  The [...]

For the past few years the best Latin lessons in the world were being offered in the unlikely setting of a nursing home basement in Milwaukee. After working in the Vatican for 40 years as [...]

MADISON, Wisconsin — A county health officer’s emergency order that closed schools to in-person instruction for grades 3-12 faces a “pretty tall order” to overcome constitutional protections for religious liberty, a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice [...]

Nearly two-thirds of state capitol buildings in the United States will display a Nativity crèche this Christmas season, a nearly 50 percent increase in just two years under a partnership between American Nativity Scene and [...]

If it is true, as writer Ross Douthat would have it, that we live in an age of decadence characterized by sterile remakes, reboots, and revivals of earlier artistic works, it is also true that [...]

MADISON, Wisconsin — Bring them home to holy ground for All Souls Day. That is the message and the simple goal of “Lay Them to Rest,” a new program at two Diocese of Madison cemeteries. [...]

MADISON, Wisconsin — Pain. Horror. Grief. Regret. Mercy. Forgiveness. Healing. The sculpture just installed at Resurrection Cemetery in the Diocese of Madison expresses the profound emotional impact of the many losses of those children killed [...]

As this past summer of protests and racial unrest was heating up, I began hearing increasing criticism directed at the American pro-life movement. An extreme, but telling example came from Rolling Stone Magazine’s Jamil Smith [...]

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Grace Williams’ five-year-long drive to open a home for victims of child sex trafficking is a good argument for the reality—and beauty—of Divine Providence. Doing battle with a hostile California state [...]

Just prior to His Ascension, Jesus delivered these parting remarks to His disciples: “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; [...]

After all the bad news coming out of Chicago—the vandalism, looting, attacks against the police in the name of social justice, many homicides, depredations of the virus—it was good to finally get some good news [...]

MADISON, Wisconsin — The last-minute COVID-19 school-closing order by the Dane County health authority tramples on constitutionally protected freedom of religion and has caused “irreparable harm” to local Catholic schools that spent hundreds of thousands [...]

As the national conversation about race, prompted by the killing of George Floyd, dominated headlines and social media this summer, many Catholics turned their attention to racism in the Church and among believers, both throughout [...]

MADISON, Wisconsin — The Second Person of the Holy Trinity was given a police escort up riot-scarred State Street to the Wisconsin Capitol building on Saturday, followed in procession by 2,000 Catholics who proclaimed in [...]

This past Saturday morning, many awoke to images of another French cathedral on fire—this time in the heart of Nantes. In the early morning hours of July 18, a fire began in the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral. [...]

MADISON, Wisconsin — A night of rioting by Black Lives Matter supporters upset over the arrest of one of the group’s activists started just hours after the bat-wielding man allegedly accosted a 40-year-old woman praying [...]

On May 23, Pope Francis appointed Thomas Chung An-zu as the new archbishop of Taipei, Taiwan in a move that came just days after Taiwan’s devoutly Catholic vice president, Chen Chien-jen, stepped down from office [...]

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – In Nigeria, Catholic parishes and communities are providing relief materials and supplies to the poor and vulnerable people in the rural areas since the COVID-19 pandemic started. The Church in the [...]

These past three months have often felt like wartime, complete with restrictions and rationing. And as often happens in wartime, a parallel struggle has played out under cover of the general chaos. Its battles have [...]