Articles by Russell Shaw

Come right down to it, the argument is simple to the point of being self-evident: a human embryo is either a human person or well along in the process of becoming one. In either case, […]

A New York Times/CBS poll some years ago found that two out of three adult American Catholics didn’t believe that at Mass the consecrated bread and wine truly became Jesus’ body and blood. Instead they […]

Have you ever wondered about those weekday feasts between Christmas and New Year’s Day? They include two martyrs—St. Stephen and St.Thomas a Becket—as well as the Holy Infants, who lost their lives to Herod’s vicious […]

After Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, the New York Times pronounced him part of the Christian nationalist movement. Then it hastened to find a sociologist who agreed […]

The Supreme Court is expected soon to decide—indeed, may have decided by the time you read this—whether to let stand or review a lower court decision clamping down on mail order abortion. The focal point […]

Leveling hierarchical distinctions in the Church without removing them entirely has emerged as a principal objective of Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality. That is perhaps the chief conclusion to be drawn from the first session […]

One needn’t be a big fan of Kevin McCarthy to see the California Republican’s ouster as Speaker of the House of Representatives as a significant low point in recent American politics. Unfortunately, there’s apparently more—much […]

In case you didn’t notice, the process of choosing the next pope has begun. No, Pope Francis is still going strong, and the cardinals didn’t slip back into the Vatican under cover of night and […]

With the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops soon to get underway, there’s a certain question that needs to be faced: Isn’t a Synod on Synodality—which is what this one is supposed […]