The Weakness of Tyranny
Blessed John Paul II loved the Christmas season. Guests in the papal apartment during his pontificate found the seasonal decorations up early in Advent; and, following Polish custom, they stayed
Desperate Churchmice
It’s been a bad three and a half decades for self-styled “progressive” Catholics. First, there was John Paul II, whom many in that camp habitually labeled a charismatic reactionary. Yet
Michael Novak, Founding Father
CRACOW. Twenty years ago, the American Catholic thinker Michael Novak put his head together with his friend Rocco Buttiglione, a distinguished Italian thinker, to see what might be done about
Benedict XVI and the Future of the West
A year ago, my subject would probably have struck some as counter-intuitive, implausible, even absurd: why would an octogenarian German theologian with little practical experience of political and economic life
The Enduring Importance of Centesimus Annus
Amidst the excitement of John Paul II’s beatification on May 1, the twentieth anniversary of the late pope’s most important social encyclical Centesimus Annus, got a bit lost. Blessed John
An Open Letter to My Friends in Poland
A son of Poland is now Blessed John Paul II. What is Poland to do now? If a friend might offer a suggestion: the Church in Poland should start looking
The Beatification of John Paul II
Rome — Two hours before the Mass of beatification for John Paul II began on May 1, I looked up from our NBC platform near the Castel Sant’Angelo and saw
A John Paul II Beatification Catechism
1. Has the beatification of John Paul II been a rush job, as some have charged? No one said that the beatification of Mother Teresa was rushed, despite the calumnies
All War, All the Time
Martyrdom has been an integral part of Christian life since the Acts of the Apostles. Yet to many Christian minds, “martyrdom” is imaginatively confined to first-century Christianity — a matter
A Life of Miracles
The otherwise inexplicable cure of a French nun suffering from Parkinson’s Disease was accepted in early January by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and Pope Benedict XVI as
Papal Humor
Despite the world’s fascination with All Things Papal, there isn’t much out there about papal humor. Which is, in a sense, entirely understandable: it takes a certain breadth of imagination,
A Promise To John Paul II
On the evening of December 15, 2004, I had dinner in the papal apartment with John Paul II and several of his aides. Although his health had been deteriorating steadily
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Extraordinary Coincidence, Contemporary Lesson
An Open Letter to My Friends in Poland
