Publication: First Things
The Pope and the Antichrist
I recently lectured in Rome on the topic of the Antichrist. The Antichrist interests me for several reasons, mostly because nobody else is talking about it—which, for most of Christian history, ...
Pelvic Theology, Pelvic Justice
In a recent New York Times guest essay, Catholic writer David Gibson praised Pope Leo for moving his church away from “pelvic theology.” For those unfamiliar with the term, it ...
Our Strange Catholic Moment
American Catholicism is in steep decline. In 2000, 2.6 million American children attended Catholic schools. In 2025, only 1.6 million did. In 2001, more than a quarter-million Catholic weddings took ...
Catholic Bishops’ Empty Moralizing on Immigration
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops made an ill-considered intervention in the legal battle over birthright citizenship. After taking office in 2025, Donald Trump issued an executive order stipulating ...
The USCCB’s Just War Error
Just war is again being discussed in the public square by policymakers and prelates alike. Recently, the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine, Bishop James Massa, made a clarification ...
Bishops Must Reclaim the Church’s FULL TEACHING on Immigration
A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation. That statement should not be controversial for Catholics. It is not a partisan slogan; it is a basic moral ...
Christian Ownership Maximalism
The maxim “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” underscores that Christian ownership confers not unbridled license, but an opportunity to participate in the providential will of ...
Where the Church’s Immigration Rhetoric Fails
Catholic discussions of immigration frequently omit salient facts, most prominently the legal status of the “migrant.” I criticized this curious neglect in Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te. In ...
The Church and Immigration Sanity
Let’s start with a thought experiment. A foreign-looking family knocks on the door one evening and asks for a place to stay. I’ve never seen them before. They look hungry ...
Bishop Paprocki Doubles-Down In His Public Correction of Cardinal Cupich
Bishop Paprocki published an article yesterday in First Things entitled "Sen. Durbin Is Unfit to Receive Any Catholic Honor." I was shocked to learn that the Archbishop of Chicago, Blase ...
Mercy, Yes, But Justice Too
It exceeds my purpose to say what should be done about Charlie Kirk’s murderer. But when we are too casual about the conditions for mercy, we discredit both justice and ...
No, Bishop, DEI Does NOT Mean God
According to Washington auxiliary bishop Roy Campbell, Catholics should stand up for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—DEI—because DEI also means “God” (as in, Dei). That insulting association of the Divine Name ...
Catholic Must Learn From The Death of Mainline Protestantism
If Ernest Hemingway were to interview American mainline Protestantism in 2025, the conversation would go something like this: “How did you go spiritually bankrupt?” “Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly.” ...
Pope Leo, Catholic Boomer?
like Kremlinologists during the Cold War, American Catholics are searching for clues to the character of their new pope. Conservatives take heart that he wore the red mozzetta that Pope ...
Leo XIV and the Best-Case Scenario
The philosopher Michael Oakeshott, the leading conservative thinker of his generation, regarded politics with distaste; he voted for the Tories, he said, “because they do the least harm.” The cardinals ...
The Next Pope Needs a Better China Policy
Reforming the Vatican’s policy on China should be a priority of the next papacy. The current approach is defined by the Vatican’s controversial 2018 agreement with China to share power ...
Archbishop Cordileone: Putting an End to the Liturgy Wars
The memories are still vivid, even though it was a long time ago. Having been born in 1956, I’m just old enough to remember the confusing and tumultuous era of ...
Pope Francis and the Vatican Deep State
When Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became pope in March 2013, it seemed promising that he was from what he, as Pope Francis, would call “the peripheries.” His election was expressive of ...
Pope Francis, My Worst Protestant Nightmare
Francis was my own worst Protestant nightmare: an authoritarian Roman pope driving a liberal Protestant agenda, a leader who embodied the worst of all possible Christian worlds. The era of ...
Archbishop Chaput: The Church After Francis
I have personal memories of Pope Francis that I greatly value: a friendly and generous working relationship at the 1997 Synod on America when we were both newly appointed archbishops; ...
The USCCB Should Reject Federal Funds
On Monday, Pope Francis sent a letter to the bishops of the United States. Criticizing the Trump administration’s plan to deport illegal immigrants, he wrote: “The true ordo amoris that ...
