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Archbishop Joseph Naumann, a former chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities, recently noted that he was “sad” with the Vatican’s seeming insensitivity to the controversy surrounding...

The First Things 2022 Spring Campaign seeks to raise $600,000 by June 30. To make your contribution, visit www.firstthings.com/donate. Friendship is a beautiful and potent thing, and one of the uncommon joys...

As we head toward June and a Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs abortion case, we should pause to consider a few simple questions. For example: Why aren’t attacks...

The following essay is adapted from keynote remarks delivered to graduates at the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary 185th Concursus. I’ve been retired now for two years. Retirement gives you...

Contempt for reli­­gious faith has been growing in America’s leadership classes for many decades, as scholars such as Christian Smith and Christopher Lasch have shown. But in recent years,...

Bernard of Clairvaux, the great 12th-century saint and Doctor of the Church who renewed the Western monastic tradition, once warned that “The most grievous danger for any pope lies...

We live in a turbulent time; a time that’s similar, in some ways, to the various Reformations of 500 years ago. History, of course, doesn’t repeat itself. History is...

Starting in 2013 and variously thereafter, Pope Francis has called upon Catholics, especially young Catholics, to “make a mess.” In a way, this makes admirable sense. Reform and renewal...

This essay is excerpted and adapted from the author’s forthcoming book (Holt, March 16), Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living.  To borrow a thought from...

Readers may recall that during the 2004 presidential campaign, Sen. John Kerry led the Democratic ticket. As a Catholic, Kerry held certain policy views that conflicted with the moral...

Toward the end of the 2015 synod of bishops in Rome, delegates were invited to submit possible themes for the next such gathering, set for 2018. As part of...

When Sen. Dianne Feinstein grilled federal circuit court nominee—and now Supreme Court nominee—Amy Coney Barrett three years ago, she fretted that “the dogma lives loudly within you. And that’s...

In the midst of the current pandemic, why should casinos have greater freedoms than churches? In casinos, hundreds to thousands of gamblers gather for hours on end in close...

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput sent the following letter to Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan this morning. January 21, 2020 Prime Minister Imran KhanCare of the Embassy of the...

In 1970, Michael Polanyi wrote an essay called “Why Did We Destroy Europe?” In it, he reflected on the cancerous spread of ideologies and war in the twentieth century....