Commentary
Eight reasons why I like Leo
Someone needs to give Cardinal Dolan a medal for his role in healing the universal Church after an awkward pontificate. Dolan told a Sunday morning talk show, just before the Conclave, that he wanted a Pope who would combine the outreach of Francis with the clarity of John Paul II and Benedict. That is what we now have in Pope Leo.
Introducing: The Second Collection
Pope Francis stated, on numerous occasions, that war always represents a failure of policy and a loss for the nations involved. No reasonable person should argue the point; war is a terrible thing. But what if the war is fought for a just cause—that is, to redress a wrong that is even more terrible?
Rule of St. Benedict | Ep. 3—Work, Governance, and Conclusion
"Prefer nothing whatever to Christ. And may He bring us all together to life everlasting!"
Do social encyclicals advance the Church’s mission?
The Church’s voice must be primarily spiritual and moral. It seems to me that we sometimes forget that the Church has no expertise to offer concerning the best and most efficient mechanisms for promoting and balancing all the essential goods through the particular mechanisms of human government. Imagine, for example, what would happen to political efficiency if the world’s governments restructured themselves in accordance with the Church’s current operational model of synodality!
Fragmented sexuality in Malick’s To the Wonder, Knight of Cups, & Song to Song
In the "Weightless Trilogy", Terrence Malick reaches the height of his formal experimentation, and offers a prophetic lament over modern alienation and especially the harm done by sexual immorality - referencing faith as a solution and even proposing openness to children as one of the fundamental things missing in modern life. However, in handling the sensitive subject matter of sexual excess, Malick sometimes crosses moral lines in execution, however praiseworthy his thematic intentions.
5.10 St. Bernard of Clairvaux: The Mellifluous Doctor
St. Bernard of Claivaux (1090 - 1153AD) was born to be a knight, and grew up in a castle, but he chose to be a different kind of knight - a true prayer warrior - and he supported the invention of the Christian knight by endorsing the Knights Templar. He would be the founder of the Cistercians, a reform order of the Benedictines. He was a strong advocate of devotion to Our Lady, and of orthodox doctrine, and he would turn down the office of bishop in six different cities.
The simple truth of how Leo XIV was elected
A papal election is not like a political contest. And whatever “inside” information we receive is tainted, in several different ways. So why not look at the election of Pope Leo XIV from the perspective of an interested observer with no top-secret sources?
Popes named Leo: The 13 predecessors
It is interesting to recall, however, that there were no fewer than thirteen popes who chose the name of Leo before the current pope. Of these, the Church considers five of them saints (though they were all canonized long before today's rigorous process was developed). Sanctity aside, however, perhaps the two greatest of the Leos were Leo the Great (the first) and Leo XIII. For some of those along the way, it is now difficult to discern their value.
Religious Fads
The latest fads repackage the tired old heresies and objections to Church teaching and, like Madison Avenue executives, market worn-out heresies with persuasive advertising gimmicks.
Pope Leo XIV faces a daunting challenge
The Catholic world rejoices at the election of a new Pope, even before getting to know him. The crowd in St. Peter’s Square applauds the announcement—Habemus papam!—without waiting to hear the new Pontiff’s name.
Rule of St. Benedict—Ep. 2 | Prayer and Community Life
"We believe that the divine presence is everywhere... But we should believe this especially without any doubt when we are assisting at the Work of God."
A vision like no other: Rethinking what we consider “life”
Most of us tend to be locked into a flattened materialist vision of reality, a vision (or lack of vision) thrust upon us by centuries of dominance by the modern Western “scientific” worldview, which is generally focused on only one aspect of reality: How do material things work, and what can we gain from that knowledge before we die?
We Watch for White Smoke
Review of "We Have a Pope!" by Katherine Bogner and illustrated by Kortney Senn, published by Emmaus Road Publishing. Includes coverage of the Papal conclave, cardinals, and Sistine Chapel.
Will cardinals reject a call for Church unity?
If any one of the cardinal-electors finds himself saying, “I could be comfortable with N as the Pope,” I hope he will see that as a reason NOT to vote for N.
Never let a papal death go to waste
No sir, not the least bit performative. Totally authentic!
Preparing for a bad pope
We should pray and fast for a good pope out of love for the Church, but we should not look for the next pope to “save” us so that we will not have to suffer or convert personally. God's Providence governs all that occurs, and all authority comes from God. While God does not guarantee us a good pope, whatever pope we get is the one He wants us to have - even if it is for our chastisement. And while we sometimes get a better pope than we deserve, we never get a worse pope than we deserve.
Seven questions for cardinal-electors
Why are you confident in this man? Because he is a good manager, or because he is a good man? Because he is clever, or because he is prayerful? Because he is a skillful diplomat, or because he is a loving pastor? Because he has good plans, or because he listens to the prompting of the Holy Spirit?
What outcome should we want from the papal election?
The current practice of synodality-as-democratized-input has become a demonstration of its own absurdity. There is a reason that Christ established the governance of the Church as a hierarchy. Any competent leader will know how to get the input he needs to govern well; but to turn the process of “inputting” into a central mechanism of governance is to completely misunderstand the fundamental nature of competent rule.
China’s puzzling influence on the conclave
By announcing these “elections” just before the conclave, the CCP exposed the weakness of that secret Rome-Beijing accord, and thereby damaged Cardinal Parolin’s standing.
Did Cardinal Becciu cut a deal?
The simple “fact” is that Cardinal Becciu will not vote in the papal election. There is no judicial body to which he can appeal (especially since he has withdrawn voluntarily), and in any event the conclave will be over before any appeal could be heard. So what does the sentence mean?
An orthodox reading of “mutual subjection” in marriage
Pope St. John Paul II's discussion of "mutual subjection" in Ephesians 5 must not be interpreted in such a way as to flatten marriage, nullifying the authority of the husband and the obedience of the wife. Nor should it be thought that John Paul II intended to overturn the way the Church has understood this passage for 2,000 years.
Trump is wrong on IVF—support restorative fertility instead
By any fair accounting, IVF fails on ethics, costs, health preservation, harm to women and children and even personal inconvenience. In addition to combatting the immorality of IVF, citizens should demand that the White House Domestic Policy Council conduct an open and fair process applying objective measures to both IVF and restorative fertility approaches. For both moral and pragmatic reasons, it is restorative fertility, not IVF, which deserves our support.
New Institute for Liturgical Formation begins this Summer (2025)
Beginning this summer, the Institute will offer twelve courses in liturgical studies over a three-year cycle, held each year during two consecutive two-week sessions during the month of July. The program emphasizes magisterial fidelity; theological richness based on Scripture, Thomistic theology and Catholic tradition; and daily worship, a common life and participation in liturgical preparation.
The Bureaucracies of the Global Church
As with any extensive organization, the institutional Church’s struggle with sinful, inefficient, and wasteful Church bureaucracies is ongoing. It extends from the Vatican through diocesan chanceries and to parishes.... But we do not worship Church leaders
Easter: Leaving Egypt
We cannot “renounce the world” out of sheer negativity; we must trust something else more in order to break that attachment.
195—The Most Influential Theology Book Nobody Reads—Philipp Rosemann
The standard textbook of theology in medieval universities was the Sentences by Peter Lombard, bishop of Paris. For almost four centuries, those seeking higher credentials in theology had to study, teach, and comment on Lombard’s Sentences. It was formative for the likes of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure.
The real Pope Francis Effect
Did we leverage the world’s affection for Pope Francis to evangelize it for the sake of the gospel? Or did the weirder aspects of the Francis pontificate drive us so batty that we instead wasted our energy fighting each other?
Facts—and fictions—about the papal interregnum
Is Cardinal Farrell the acting head of the universal Church during the interregnum? No.
Pope Francis’s Funeral and Tomb Showcase His Legacy
Tombs of popes and other heads of state do not merely hold the rulers’ earthly remains. They convey how the rulers wish to be remembered. They can also express other messages to posterity, typically ones that the rulers held most dear.
A pontificate marked by contradictions
In his most startling statements, Pope Francis never directly contradicted established Catholic doctrine. But by raising questions about previous teachings, and then remaining silent while more radical clerics proclaimed a change in doctrine, he undermined the traditional teachings.
Jubilation in Rome’s Eternity
To celebrate Rome today is to toast its secular and sacred histories for all their respective glories, respective failures, and the many conflicts between them. To do so in this Jubilee Year is to rejoice in the enduring power of the divine over finite secular might.
Whether or Not We Like It, Christ is Risen
We believers, atheists and Christians, share the same turmoil in life.. But those of us who actively believe in the Resurrection (and are keenly aware of our responsibilities before God) are less likely to view the world with paralyzing desperation than those with the pious and irrational hope that death ends it all. We fear God, not the actuarial tables.
5.9 St. Anselm of Canterbury: Father of Scholasticism
St. Anselm (1033 - 1109 AD) was Abbot of the monastery of Bec, and later, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was the first of the medieval scholastics, and the first real systematic theologian. His treatise, Cur Deus Homo brought together biblical and patristic themes related to salvation and the atonement to provide the Church with a comprehensive (up to that point) teaching on the Incarnation and the Atonement, known as the Satisfaction Theory of Atonement.
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