“Wittenberg” in Synodal Slow Motion
As Yale’s Carlos Eire masterfully demonstrated in Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450–1650, there was no one “Protestant Reformation” but rather several religious movements, often in disagreement with each other, that
Doubling Down on a Bad Deal
Perseverance on a difficult but noble path is a virtue. Stubbornness when confronted by irrefutable evidence of a grave mistake is a vice. The latter would seem an apt characterization
Auschwitz and “Intrinsic Evil”
Seventy-five years ago, on January 27, 1945, the infantrymen of the Red Army’s 322nd Rifle Division were bludgeoning their way into the Third Reich when they discovered the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination
National Interest, National Purpose: Reimagining Morality and Foreign Policy
The following article is based on George Weigel’s Diane Knippers Lecture at the Institute on Religion & Democracy in Washington, DC, on November 19, 2019. On December 29, 1989, the
A Last Chance for Australian Justice
My late parents loved Cardinal George Pell, whom they knew for decades. So I found it a happy coincidence that, on November 12 (which would have been my parents’ 70th
Why Did the Wall Fall, 30 Years Ago?
November 9 marked the 30th anniversary of the peaceful breach of the Berlin Wall—the symbolic high point of the Revolution of 1989, which would be completed seven weeks later by
Freedom, Including Religious Freedom, Is Never Free
The Religious Freedom Institute honored Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M.Cap., with its first “Defender of Religious Freedom Award” at a dinner in Washington, D.C. The keynote address, which follows, was delivered by
What Kind of “Believers”?
This past June I was in the Munich area for four days, giving a public lecture on Evangelical Catholicism and doing a lot of media interviews. My hosts were exceptionally
Australian Justice in the Dock
Consider this sequence of events, familiar to some but evidently not to others: March 2013: Prior to any credible reports of misbehavior being made against Cardinal George Pell, police in Australia’s
Falsely, Matilda
Was it mere coincidence, or perhaps Providence, that Catholics around the world read Psalm 94 at Midday Prayer on August 21, hours after an appellate panel of three judges announced a
The Australian Disgrace
There will be much more to be said in the weeks and months ahead about the rejection of Cardinal George Pell’s appeal of his conviction for “historic sexual abuse,” by
On the New “Nationalism”
Thanks to President Trump’s “America First” rhetoric and the rise of populist-nationalist parties in Europe, there’s a lot of debate about “nationalism” these days. On that subject, as on so
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