Commentary

Sacraments, according to the Baltimore Catechism, are outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace. The Sacraments define and direct our lives. Our choices form us. When we choose to live a sacramental life, in a sense we become sacraments reflecting the Lord. But the contrary is also...

When I read the news headline it suddenly all seemed clear. The story reported that new positive Covid tests were attributed to “community spread.” Well of course! That’s how contagious diseases are contracted, right? They spread through the community. But this is the first...

I wish to address the statement promulgated a week ago by five bishops insisting that it is in all cases immoral to allow oneself to be vaccinated with any vaccine which has been tainted by the use of fetal cell lines. This statement was apparently written by the very articulate Athanasius...

The rumors are true. My sources in Rome—too many and too reliable to be doubted—confirm that a document is circulating at the Vatican which, if given papal approval, would significantly restrict use the “extraordinary form” of the liturgy, the traditional Latin Mass...

The latest document from the Vatican, a reflection on the CO19 pandemic, is an embarrassment to the Catholic faithful. The Pontifical Academy for Life, under the leadership of the controversial Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, produced the document, and the Vatican press office introduced it on...

The second volume of our ebook series for the 2020-2021 liturgical year has been released in our ebooks download area. This volume covers the initial period of Ordinary Time between Christmas and Lent, from January 11th through February 16th. It may be downloaded free of charge in the following...

My editorial career has brought me into close contact with quite a few impressive thinkers. I have worked with famous authors, with noted theologians and philosophers, with canny political strategists, with at least a half-dozen Nobel Prize winners. Among them all, for sheer full-spectrum...

Set aside, for a moment, the practical and medical questions about any Covid vaccine. (Will it work? Will it be safe? Will it have serious side effects?) Let me return to a question that I raised in in April and again in May: Should Catholics accept a vaccine that has been developed using fetal...

We have just released the fifth volume in the 2020-2022 Liturgical Year series of ebooks. Volume five covers the first half of the long stretch of Ordinary Time between the close of the Easter Season on Pentecost and the beginning of Advent. Like all CatholicCulture.org ebooks, this volume is...

[The following are my reflections on a new statement by Archbishop Vigano, which he made in response to questions that I had raised about his views on the authority of Vatican II.] Early in June, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano—who had drawn international attention in August 2018, when he...