Hadley Arkes: The logic of the Constitution’s separation of powers should be enough to overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision that disfigured our laws and altered the moral sensibilities of our people. As we reached the 47th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, pro-lifers gathered again in the March for Life, in what is usually the coldest […]
David Carlin: Morality declines when exceptions are made for “hard cases” and collapses when the fundamental rules become merely unobtainable “ideals.” One of the distinctive things about Catholic moral doctrine is that it has a number of absolute or exceptionless rules, many of them involving or at least associated with sexual matters. For example: One […]
Michael Pakaluk: Hell is a truth that Jesus teaches and indirectly affirms on many occasions. It exists because we have freedom to reject God and the good. Why Do Christians Believe in Hell? Because Christendom has affirmed it, Jesus clearly teaches the reality of Hell in the Bible, and Hell’s reality resonates with an honest […]
Casey Chalk: The Jewish people and their faith are more than a historical curiosity – they are one sign of the credibility of the God of Revelation. The American Catholic novelist Walker Percy once asked: “Why does no one find it remarkable that in most world cities today there are Jews but not one single Hittite, […]
James Matthew Wilson: To encounter Christ and to abide with him is not just the Good News, it is the only news that stays news, forever. Simon During has made a dismaying but perceptive argument about the relationship between religion and culture in, of all places, The Chronicle of Higher Education, the flagship of today’s academic world. […]
Robert Royal on the Sino-Vatican pact: We hear we must be patient and not give up hope, but facts on the ground show the Church has been had. China is a large, strange, complex, contradictory thing, even before you get to the large, strange, complex, contradictory, and murderous form of Communism that has come to dominate […]
William Kilpatrick: Church leaders continue to insist that Islam is not a threat, despite the fact that an abundance of facts shows Muslim hostility to Catholicism. In comments last year, Marcello Pera, a prominent Italian intellectual and non-believer, criticized Pope Francis for “openly going against tradition, doctrine, and introducing inexplicable innovations, behaviors and gestures.” A philosopher […]
Note: As we enter the 2020s, it’s only natural to be thinking about what lies ahead. So we asked some of TCT’s deep thinkers to speculate about the future – freely, but no end-of-the-world scenarios allowed, since those short circuit the whole enterprise. Some responded with high seriousness, others with sparkling wit, still others with – well, […]
Eduardo Echeverria: Given the Church’s constant opposition, no “blessing” can be found for homosexual couples within the context of Catholicism. Once again, the German archbishop, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, responded positively to the question, “What do you do when a homosexual couple asks you for an episcopal blessing.” He claims not to be promoting a general […]
Ines A. Murzaku: Jesus was the protomartyr, and Christians across the globe are being martyred today. But the West is too frightened to call evil by its name. A few days ago, I went to my trusted Lebanese-American mechanic for an oil change. The Christians of the East have always had a penchant for discussing […]
Fr. Gerald E. Murray on a Pontifical Biblical Commission book that suggests the Church’s teaching on homosexuality is antiquated. In his 1967 classic defense of the Catholic Faith against modern errors, Trojan Horse in the City of God, Dietrich von Hildebrand wrote: “With a religion the only question that can matter is whether or not it […]
William Kilpatrick: Pope Francis seems not to see a problem meeting with and embracing an anti-Semite like the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayyeb. John Cornwell’s 1999 smear of Pius XII, Hitler’s Pope, became a best-seller, lauded by reviewers and excerpted in major magazines. Cornwell portrayed Pope Pius as an anti-Semite, a supporter of Hitler, […]
Fr. Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap.: The Father established Jesus, his glorious incarnate Son, as the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, and so King of kings, the Lord of lords. Today, even at the highest ecclesial levels, the importance of Catholic doctrine is disparaged. In particular, Jesus is reduced to one of […]
Robert Royal: It’s not good to let utopian visions of peace mesmerize us when worldwide persecution of fellow believers proceeds apace. How long can the Vatican remain silent about the Chinese repression in Hong Kong and about reports of persecution and re-education camps for religious believers in the rest of China? Clearly, the figures in the Roman […]
Note: The Great Professor Arkes reminds us today of something everyone should understand about the distinction between faith and reason, especially in the public square. Faith is addressed to reason, but reason – right reason – is quite capable on its own of telling us truths about public questions such as the duty to protect the […]