The myth vs. the historical record February 25, 2026By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, The Catholic Difference What John Paul observed to the General Council of the Polish episcopate in June 1979 — that Catholicism has effective weapons against tyranny when it is “strong with its own strength,” its spiritual strength — remains true today, not least with respect to Russia and China.
Remembering Angelo Gugel February 18, 2026By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, The Catholic Difference He was a quiet man who sought no attention and knew he was serving a saint. May he rest in peace, reunited with his old master at the Throne of Grace.
Might does not always make right, or even sense February 11, 2026By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, The Catholic Difference, War in Ukraine I do not agree with those who claim that Mr. Miller’s chest-thumping effectively gave Vladimir Putin carte blanche to conquer Ukraine (and Georgia, Moldova, the Baltic states, and chunks of Poland and Norway), while giving the green light to Xi Jinping to ingest Taiwan.
Cardinal Dolan: By no means finished yet February 4, 2026By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, The Catholic Difference As of Feb. 6, he will not be archbishop of New York. But Cardinal Timothy Dolan, in good health and full of energy, is by no means at the end of his ministry or influence.
P.D. James and designer parkas for chihuahuas January 28, 2026By George Weigel Filed Under: Commentary, The Catholic Difference In the face of these unmistakable signs of cultural, even civilizational, decay, the Church has its work cut out for it.
The German bishops’ conference, over the cliff December 17, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, The Catholic Difference It is tragic that this abandonment of theological sanity and pastoral responsibility coincides with the 60th anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, in which German bishops and theologians (including the future Pope Benedict XVI) played significant roles.
Rome and the Church in the U.S. December 10, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Bishops, Commentary, The Catholic Difference The bishops speak in the public square on a host of issues, and they do so with the voice of public reason, not as “culture-warriors” (another silly epithet applied to them by bears of little brain).
Books for Christmas 2025 December 3, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Books, Commentary, The Catholic Difference Surveys indicate that reading books is dropping precipitously across all age groups. This is a tragedy in itself; it’s also a social disaster, as a post-literate society risks becoming a post-rational society. All the more reason, then, to consider giving books for Christmas: books that entertain, inform, and open new horizons of understanding.
Baltimore native Weigel honored for defense of human dignity in the face of aggression December 1, 2025By Katarzyna Szalajko OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, The Catholic Difference, War in Ukraine, World News American theologian and author George Weigel was honored Nov. 30 with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s Blessed Omelyan Kovch Award at the National Opera House in Lviv, Ukraine.
Ukraine’s religious leaders and Munich 2.0 November 26, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, The Catholic Difference, War in Ukraine The U.S. government released a multi-point “peace plan” that should cause anyone familiar with the history of the late 1930s to recoil in disgust and anger.
Sportsmanship and the season of our discontents November 12, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, Sports, The Catholic Difference The deterioration of our games is part and parcel of the deterioration of our culture. And as politics is downstream from culture, end-zone ridiculousness and similar self-aggrandizing debaucheries in other forms of entertainment have inevitably leaked into politics like a poison.
Newman and the new ultramontanism November 5, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, Saints, The Catholic Difference The irony of Newman being given this rare honor just now lies in the fact that the unity of the Church is threatened by recrudescent ultramontanism: not the old, 19th-century reactionary model, but a new hybrid combining Catholic progressivism in the realm of ideas with liberal authoritarianism in Church governance.
