Thomas Reese
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Pope Leo’s Africa visit raises the question: Is the continent really the church’s future?
Pope Leo XIV brought encouragement and challenge to Africa, pressing ruling elites on corruption while urging bishops to focus on justice over culture-war issues. But demographic and social forces that weakened Western Catholicism are already gathering on the continent, raising urgent questions about the church’s long-term trajectory.
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Why the Iran war is immoral
A hospital is not a fortress. A school is not an armory. A child eating breakfast is not collateral damage waiting to happen. The just war tradition draws these lines in indelible ink, yet the fog of war keeps producing erasers — and generals willing to use them.
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I’m giving up Trump for Lent
Lent is traditionally a season of penance, prayer and self-examination. For Tom Reese, the most honest act of penance he can manage is admitting that his Trump consumption has become compulsive, corrosive and entirely optional — and, while not claiming perfect resolve, choosing, for 40 days, to stop.
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Trump absent from US Bishops’ mass deportation statement
An urgent message on immigration nearly failed to reach the agenda at the bishops’ meeting in Baltimore. Only behind closed doors did leaders push to address the crisis, ultimately empowering four bishops to draft the hard-won pastoral statement.
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Younger clergy out of step with Catholic laity
If young priests aggressively advance their conservative agenda, church alienation could grow. With lay opinion trending progressive, the gap may further depress Catholic identity and parish life.
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Pope Leo a careful canon lawyer
Pope Leo is slowing beginning to reveal himself, not through dramatic gestures but through cautious, lawyerly responses; most of which is scripted.
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It’s time for a better English translation of the Eucharist
Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy is deeply tied to translation. His insistence on word-for-word rendering left Catholics with a liturgy often alien to contemporary speech. Change will not come from Rome alone. English-speaking Catholics must rally together, pushing their bishops to request approval for the 1998 translation.
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Human-made famine and assault on Gaza City
The Gaza famine is not a tragic accident but the result of calculated choices. A population stripped of food, shelter, and safety has been left to perish in full view of the world. Gaza’s suffering is engineered, not incidental.
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Every effort matters
Being a good neighbor starts with citizenship — engaging in public life to promote justice, peace and environmental care. Loving our neighbor can feel overwhelming, but hope begins with small, concrete acts.
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Vatican defends science amid global pushback
Calling for systemic change, the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences says governments must protect scientific independence and make evidence-based decisions, not bow to ideological pressures or conspiracy-driven narratives.
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