Commentary

Yes, there are other priests—many others, really—whose conduct has been far more egregious, whose public statements have been far more injurious to the faith. Yes, it is painful to see a leading figure in the American pro-life movement disciplined, while others who undermine Church...

What message did Pope Francis send to the American Church by naming Bishop Robert McElroy to the College of Cardinals? How will his latest choices shape the prospects for the next papal conclave? Which other choices deserve a second look, and which prelates were conspicuously absent from the...

Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led...

Vatican II called for active participation by the laity in the Eucharistic liturgy. No one, to my knowledge, disputes that active participation is desirable. The question is: what does “active participation” mean? Let me offer an answer, in a roundabout way. Eighteen years have...

Now that the Supreme Court has officially overturned the wretched Roe and Casey decisions, I think it’s timely to re-post what I wrote in May, when a draft of today’s opinion leaked: Do not accept the liberal narrative that the Court has thwarted the democratic process....

Losers come in many shapes and forms and emerge from unexpected places. The priests and Levites who avoided the wounded traveler in the Parable of the Good Samaritan were members of the Jewish elites, but they were selfish losers. The Samaritan was an apostate Jew. Moved with compassion, he alone...

Four years have passed since Theodore McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals. We are still coping with the aftershocks of the scandal he caused. Moreover—the reason I write about this subject today—we are still coping with the clerical system that allowed that scandal to...

OK, I think I understand now. The Vatican “carried out a detailed consultation of the bishops in 2020” regarding the use of the traditional Latin Mass. Although we’ve never seen the results of that consultation, Pope Francis determined that “the wishes expressed by...

Taking his cue from Cardinal McElroy—and ignoring the strong cautions from Archbishop Aquila and Archbishop Naumann, among others—Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich has

Since Pope Francis issued Traditionis Custodes, restricting the use of the traditional Latin Mass, some bishops have issued dispensations, allowing their priests to continue using the Tridentine liturgy. Now Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, has ruled that...