It is well known that fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Still, if St. Paul didn’t mind “speaking like a fool,” who am I to hesitate to follow in his footsteps? Alright, here goes. It is no secret – except possibly to some indigenous tribe lost in the Amazon jungle that...
I’ve heard a lot of commentary in the past week about Pope Leo XIV’s Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi Te. This isn’t surprising, Dilexi Te is Pope Leo’s first major teaching document, and there are many people, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, who are anxious to get a sense of who Leo is and what his papal priorities will...
In Sunday’s gospel reading, we see that only one of the ten who were cured of leprosy returned to thank Jesus. This is not to suggest that the other nine were without any gratitude—it is hard to imagine that anyone who knew the isolation and poverty of a life with leprosy in the...
Through the Scriptures, Tradition, liturgies, and devotions, people can encounter the living Christ and experience his love, healing, and freedom. But what happens when the women and men in the Church who are tasked with teaching doctrine, preaching God’s word, or presiding over the sacraments, do so with carelessness or coercion? What harm...
Life is not respected when we allow our nation to kill its enemies – including mostly innocent civilians – in war, ignore genocide being committed in real time, live with an attitude of indifference toward unborn babies brutalized by abortion, condone the death penalty, turn a blind eye to the uninsured sick and...
Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te, places the poor at the very heart of the Church’s mission, continuing and deepening the vision of Pope Francis. In this video, I share my first impressions of the document, unpacking its key themes and showing how it connects with centuries of Catholic teaching and...
It is important to note therefore that a world which is divided into blocs, sustained by rigid ideologies, and in which instead of interdependence and solidarity different forms of imperialism hold sway, can only be a world subject to structures of sin. The sum total of the negative factors working against a true...
On October 4th, Pope Leo signed Dilexi Te, his first Apostolic Exhortation. The document, which was much anticipated as a window into the thoughts of our new Pontif, was released today, October 9th. As Pope Leo explains in his introduction to the document, Pope Francis was preparing to issue this letter at the...
By Pope Leo XIV’s own account, Dilexi Te, his first apostolic exhortation (and first major papal document), is a text that “Pope Francis was preparing in the last months of his life,” to which Leo is “adding some reflections” (Dilexi Te §3). This is well, not only because Leo is interested in stressing...
Traditionalists often argue that Traditionis Custodes and diocesan limitations on the Tridentine Mass are unnecessary, punitive, and directed at sincere Catholics who only want to worship as their ancestors did. Some even insist there is no real cause — only hostility or cruelty from Rome and the bishops. Recently on X, author and...
What does it really mean to be pro-life? Is it only about opposing abortion, or does it also include opposing the death penalty and defending the dignity of immigrants? When Pope Leo XIV recently spoke about what it truly means to be pro-life, his words caused quite a stir. Many accused him of...
Today, I’m sharing a conversation I had a few weeks ago with Ann Yeong, for her podcast, Becoming Me, about spiritual abuse within the context of evangelization. We talk about how a distorted image of God can lead to a distorted evangelization where we “proclaim God in a way contrary to God himself.”...
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