Pope John Paul II

Life and Good or Death and Evil?

I recently read with great interest a fascinating story by the Associated Press. The life of a young girl, Lake Annabelle Hall, was saved following surgery to remove a cyst on her left lung. Had it not been discovered it…

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What Commencement Addresses Reveal

by Brian Jones

The beginning of May is always an essential moment for our American culture, since we get a rather unique and picturesque glimpse into the status of our polity and its current health, or lack thereof. Moreover, this particular occasion in…

Veritatis Splendor: The Encyclical that Mattered

by Samuel Gregg

There are papal encyclicals, and then there are papal encyclicals. Some escape public attention almost from the moment they’re promulgated. Others continue reverberating inside the Church decades after they appear. But there’s also a third type of encyclical: those which…

The Black-and-White Pope

by Donald S. Prudlo

A few days ago we all had a shocking surprise as a Latin American, Jesuit archbishop emerged onto the loggia of St. Peter’s to the general joy of the Catholic world. The rejoicing was widespread, but not universal, with some…

Catholic Youth are Indebted to John Paul II and Benedict XVI

by John Paul Shimek

Less than one month ago, Facebook posts and Twitter tweets announced momentous news: “Annuntio vobis tristitiam magnam,” one said. “Sede Vacante,” read another. A million similar messages appeared across the internet and the new social media. The ancient See of St….

Benedict’s Decision in the Light of Eternity

by Rev. George W. Rutler

What God knows is not necessarily what God wills. Each pope is guaranteed the protection of the Holy Spirit from fallible definitions of faith and morals, but to suppose that each pope is there because God wants him there, including…

Temper, Temper: Salon’s Abortion Tantrum

by R. J. Snell

Every parent has experienced a child caught in the act, perhaps even with evidence of melted chocolate still on the corner of her lip, who resolutely denied the obvious. “What? Who me? Couldn’t be!” A good many parents have also…

Abortion and the Contraceptive Mentality

by Arland K. Nichols

This year marks an auspicious anniversary—forty years of nation-wide abortion on demand since Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. These cases declared a right to abortion that was more permissive than the law of any state. A woman could…

Jesus of Nazareth, Family Man: On the Decline of Marriage and Childrearing

by R. J. Snell

Many headlines of the last week announced a fourth century papyrus fragment containing the Coptic phrase, “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife.…’” While some provocateurs used the occasion to belittle Christianity, commentary was mostly restrained, in keeping with the cryptic…

Life, Liberty and Mercy: One Catholic’s Contribution to American Political Discourse

by Christopher Shannon

Cardinal Timothy Dolan chose “Let Freedom Ring!” as the title of his recent talk before the John Carroll Society in Washington, DC. And it now appears to be the rallying cry for faithful Catholics seeking to engage the upcoming presidential…

Barack Obama, Władysław Gomułka and the Attack on the Catholic Church

by John Hittinger

This July at a conference at Mundelein Seminary I heard Cardinal George state that the Church is in a more perilous position in this country then it has ever been. In February he said the Church is being despoiled of…