In the past couple of weeks, two readers reached out to me asking if I had ever written anything about how theology about suffering is misused in coercive ways within the Church. Then yesterday, unprovoked, a friend sent me this excerpt from an address Pope Leo gave this past week in Spain: This...
Quite unexpectedly, Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas brought me back to my time years ago studying with the much-beloved papal Latinist Reginald Foster. Much of Magnifica Humanitas explicitly hearkens back to Leo XIII’s seminal social encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891), including its use of the Latin phrase res novae to introduce the...
It is well known that the schismatic Society of Saint Pius X plans to consecrate four bishops on July 1, 2026, in Écône, Switzerland — despite being warned explicitly that to do so would incur excommunication for both those ordained and those performing the ordinations. We have been here before. In 1988 Archbishop...
In the past couple of weeks, two readers reached out to me asking if I had ever written anything about how theology about suffering is misused in coercive ways within the Church. Then yesterday, unprovoked, a friend sent me this excerpt from an address Pope Leo gave this past week in Spain: This...
Quite unexpectedly, Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas brought me back to my time years ago studying with the much-beloved papal Latinist Reginald Foster. Much of Magnifica Humanitas explicitly hearkens back to Leo XIII’s seminal social encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891), including its use of the Latin phrase res novae to introduce the...
It is well known that the schismatic Society of Saint Pius X plans to consecrate four bishops on July 1, 2026, in Écône, Switzerland — despite being warned explicitly that to do so would incur excommunication for both those ordained and those performing the ordinations. We have been here before. In 1988 Archbishop...
The wise guys are back for Part 3 of their deep dive into Magnifica Humanitas, and this time Scott Lieb and Michel Therrien unpack Pope Leo’s analysis of “digital power” and what it means to be truly human in the age of AI. (Click for Part 1 and Part 2.) They explain why technology...
When subsidiarity is not linked to solidarity, it ends up becoming merely the protection of particular interests; when solidarity is not supported by subsidiarity, it degenerates into a form of welfare…. -Pope Leo XIV The northeasternmost region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, along with neighboring areas of Uganda, are suffering a daunting...
At the prompting of several friends from the Catholic traditionalist and apologetics community, I started writing this piece — unsure exactly what I feel compelled to write, not knowing where we will end up. I suspect this will be more personal reflection than apologetics or canon law. Approximately 14 years ago, I quietly...
Dawn Eden Goldstein, theologian, canon lawyer, and author, who has written Father Ed: The Story of Bill W.’s Spiritual Sponsor, a biography of Fr. Edward Dowling, who was pivotal to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, sees a link between 12 step programs and Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. She notes Pope Leo’s...
A rumor used to travel slowly. Someone would mention something after Mass, at work, or over dinner, and maybe it reached a few people by the end of the week if it was juicy enough. Now it takes one post. One clip. One caption written confidently enough to sound true. Suddenly, thousands of...
On June 3, 2026, Robert Cardinal McElroy, the Archbishop of Washington, removed Monsignor Stephen Rossetti as an exorcist of the Archdiocese of Washington and ended the archdiocese’s affiliation with Rossetti’s Saint Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal. In a statement posted to the archdiocesan website, the cardinal said that Rossetti’s public remarks linking UFOs...
In part two (click here for part 1) of the Wise Guys’ series on Magnifica Humanitas, Scott Lieb and Dr. Michael Therrien continue breaking down Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical letter. This episode will help you grow in understanding of the purpose and breadth of the Church’s social teaching, and how to approach the...
Today is the memorial of St. Charles Lwanga from Uganda. He and his 21 companions were martyred in 1886, when they refused to renounce their Christian faith and resisted the sexually immoral activities commanded by the ruler of the Bagandan people, King Mwanga II. Born in Uganda, St. Lwanga first learned about Christ...
This is something I think our readers will enjoy. Dr. Michel Therrien, who has contributed to Where Peter Is in the past, has launched a new four-part video series on Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, with his longtime friend Scott Lieb on The Wise Guys podcast. The series explores one of the most urgent...
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