Paul Kingsnorth

Against Christian Civilization

The last time I was in America, which was last autumn, I visited the battlefield at Little Bighorn.…
R. R. Reno

Pope Francis’s Apocalyptic Dream

Pope Francis published his suicide note. It took the form of a letter to the American Catholic bishops.…
Charles J. Chaput portrait
Charles J. Chaput

Cardinal Fernández Misleads

Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope Benedict XVI, stepped down from the papal ministry in 2013. But before…
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The Age of De-Globalization

R. R. Reno
Annex Greenland! Take back the Panama Canal! Canada as the fifty-first state! Speaking at an early January press conference, Donald Trump put the world in a tizzy. German chancellor Olaf Scholz recoiled…

Large Language Poetry

Nikolas Prassas

In my ideal undergraduate course in literary criticism, the first semester would include a brisk introduction to…

The Re-Churching of Men

Blake Johnson

Church life in America has been majority-­female for some time. According to Pew Research, women make up…

Biden Is the New Francis

Matthew Schmitz

Early in 2016, articles began to appear noting similarities between Pope Francis and Donald Trump. Trump’s promise…

Covenantal Capitalism

Liel Leibovitz

One recent afternoon, while visiting Universal Studios, I found myself seriously contemplating socialism. I was standing in…

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PODCASTS More Podcasts

The Editor’s Desk

Brave New World Conservatism

Host: R.R. Reno GUEST: Anselm Audley

In this episode, Nathan Pinkoski joins Rusty Reno on The Editor’s Desk to talk about his book review “Paleofuturism” from the February 2024 issue of the magazine. The conversation is…

Conversations

Cicero the Comedian

Host: Mark Bauerlein GUEST: Spencer A. Klavan

The latest installment of an ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein. Michael Fontaine joins in to discuss his recent translations, How to Tell a Joke: An Ancient Guide…

The First Things Podcast

Super Bowls and Bad Samaritans

The editors discuss Super Bowl 59—why we watched, who tried to rig the outcome, and what Taylor Swift will do next. Then we talk JD Vance, Pope Francis, and…

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On the Square MORE ON THE SQUARE

Give the National Endowment for the Arts Back to the Public

Michael Astrue
For decades, Americans have become increasingly alienated from the American arts establishment. The main source for their discontent is clear: Academics and their allies have successfully insisted upon first…

Who’s Really Calling the Shots at U.S. Diocesan Chanceries?

Michael J. Mazza

The Second Vatican Council taught that bishops are not mere delegates of the pope, regional managers of…

IVF Is Not Pro-Family

Jonathon Van Maren

Donald Trump made good on his promise to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) on February…

Why Women Cannot Be Deacons

James Keating

Much has recently been written about the possibility of the Church sacramentally ordaining women to the diaconate.…

What Protestants Get Wrong About the Epistle to the Hebrews

Peter J. Leithart

The Epistle to the Hebrews proclaims the superiority of the new to the old, the second to…

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Essays MORE ESSAYS

Dostoevsky’s Credo

Gary Saul Morson

What does it mean to believe something? Is it possible for a person to profess an idea…

Finding Faith in the Fragments

Peter Tonguette

When your parents were married for seventeen years before you were born, as mine were, you spend…

Letter to a Young Bishop

Scott Hahn

Your Excellency, I’m writing only because you asked. I have so far successfully avoided the role of…

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Reviews MORE REVIEWS

Mind the Gap

Kit Wilson

I grew up in a religiously sympathetic, if not always actively practicing, household. During my toddler years, my…

Merkelʼs Country

Christopher Caldwell

German readers have a powerful appetite for doorstop political autobiographies, gossip-filled 600- and 700-page apologias by major…

Necessary Societies

Sam Zeno Conedera

On the Dignity of Society:Catholic Social Teaching and Natural Lawby f. russell hittinger,edited by scott j. ronigercatholic…

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Poetry More Poetry

The End of March 

Sally Thomas

Stands of bearded iris, purple in mourningSpring up, early, among their cool green speartips,Pale and pointed, palmlike,…

Letter to a Middle-Aged Poet 

Matthew Buckley Smith

Nature and history have made us what we are, fat hapless amateurs stranded some ninety million miles from the nearest…

Birds of the Air 

Gretchen Bartels-Ray

Look— crimson berries for songbirds, writhing worms for red-breasted early birds, swarming mice and astonished doves plucked…

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