Christian political thought
-
If reports are true, Pope Leo XIV will release his first encyclical on May 15th, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent humanity). Since this is unrelated to my day job, I will almost certainly not be among the first to read and report on this, so I wanted to try to flag a few things in advance…
-
In light of the war between the United States (and Israel) and Iran, I’ve been hearing a lot of references within Catholic circles to “just war” doctrine, the teaching of the Church that relates to armed conflict between nations. This doctrine dates back to St. Ambrose and St. Augustine in the first few centuries of…
-
Last Sunday’s Old Testament passage from Deuteronomy was a beautiful passage from Moses on how the law of God is written on our hearts, and the Gospel was the Parable of the Good Samaritan, so my guess is that nobody paid much attention to the second reading, Colossians 1:15-20. But Paul says something interesting in…
-
If our new American pope, Leo XIV, has a theme in these too-early-for-definition days of his papacy, it is the theme of peace. His first remarks after election began with a call to peace, and he has been a consistent and vocal advocate for peace amidst the growing strife of our decidedly unpeaceful world. As…
-
You first. Starting with yesterday’s Gospel, the readings for daily mass have some challenging things to say about how we Christians ought to act. Yesterday, we heard: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” And: “Give to everyone who asks of…
-
Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority opposes what God has appointed, and those who oppose it will bring judgment upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear to good…
Reading Francis 