Pope Francis

Fake History

Everyone has a right to their opinion about the state of Catholicism in 2017, but no one has a right to invent their own Church history. Continue Reading »

Chaplains of Death

A Canadian document shows cowardly bishops accommodating the culture of death and sanctioning a grotesque misuse of the sacraments. Continue Reading »

How I Changed My Mind About Pope Francis

A pope who speaks with singular eloquence of our need to resist the technocratic logic of the “throwaway culture” seems bent on leading his Church to surrender to it. Continue Reading »

Mustard Seeds

The first chapter of Genesis is a grand liturgy of creation. The second chapter describes with existential immediacy the universal human longing for fulfillment. Subsequent chapters are given over to disaster and destruction. The primordial man and woman set human history on its path toward . . . . Continue Reading »

A (Liturgical) New Year’s Resolution

Permit me to suggest a Real New Year’s resolution to those who think it necessary to support Pope Francis by rewriting recent Church history: Stop it. Continue Reading »

How to Mark the Death of a Devil?

Perhaps now, with the death of a sinner, the country may turn from his evil ways—and find life instead. Continue Reading »

Wanting to Love the Pope

Catholics love the pope, want to love the pope, and Francis deserves their love and fidelity.

But to the degree Catholics also really know their faith, love the Church, and seek to live her teachings, many are also increasingly uneasy. Continue Reading »

A Pope and a Psychiatrist on Transsexual Marriages

The suffering of those who feel themselves to be transsexual can be so great—to the point of making them suicidal—that from the perspective of the Church one can hardly categorically forbid surgical and hormonal measures to reduce their suffering, as a last resort after attempting other measures. The proscription of self-mutilation must here be weighed against the good of reducing suffering. Continue Reading »

A Catholic Spring?

The First Things Podcast, Episode 12. Also featuring: Pope Francis’s failure and Bob Dylan’s Nobel. Continue Reading »

Christ's Two Feet

We require both judgment and mercy. Continue Reading »