General
The death penalty debate and the Church’s magisterium
I regard the liceity of the death penalty as having been established with infallible certitude by the Church’s ordinary magisterium. […]
magisterium
The Dispatch
Affirming and celebrating Humanae Vitae
Bishops might consider making these six affirmations about Blessed Paul VI’s encyclical, in one form or another. […]
Features
The long shadows of the First Vatican Council
Revered and Reviled squarely faces the problem that Vatican I presents, and has always presented about papal primacy. […]
Columns
Sanity and the Church
Cultural radicalism rejects tradition, and therefore rejects everything except immediate impressions, abstract ideology, and naked will. That’s no way to build anything solid, let alone […]
Features
Al Kresta on the past, present, and future of Catholic radio
“We are basically champions of Catholic teaching,” says the radio host and head of Ave Maria Radio. “We’re an echo chamber for the Magisterium. You’re […]
Essay
On non-infallible teachings of the Magisterium and the meaning of “obsequium religiosum”
Sometimes “religious obsequium” is translated “religious assent,” at other times “religious submission,” and at other times “religious respect”. What exactly are we being asked to […]
The Dispatch
Comments on Prof. Robert De Mattei’s response about AL, canon law, and heresy
I am immensely glad that canon law is here, but the fact that we are lately having to rely on law almost exclusively to defend crucial Church teachings is a sign […]
The Dispatch
Massimo Faggioli’s many errors regarding canon law, Francis’ letter to the Argentine bishops
Faggioli’s recent Commonweal essay illustrates several of the ways that non-canonists can stumble over canonical issues while setting faulty views before the public. […]
The Dispatch
Capital Punishment and the Papal Magisterium: A Response to Dr. Edward Feser
The issue is not so much whether prior popes were in error in their scriptural citations. The issue is whether their scriptural appeals qualify as […]
Essay
Authority, anthropology, and the bourgeois morality of Fr. James Martin
“About sex especially men are born unbalanced; we might almost say men are born mad. They scarcely reach sanity till they reach sanctity.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man “For this reason the Second Vatican […]