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.
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.
Dignitatis Humanae changing history November 19, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, Religious Freedom, Social Justice On Dec. 7, 1965, Pope Paul solemnly promulgated the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, known by its Latin incipit (opening words) as Dignitatis Humanae. The Council thereby turbocharged the Catholic Church’s transformation into the world’s premier institutional defender of basic human rights.
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.
A timely anniversary October 29, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, The Catholic Difference Antisemitism is a malignancy in society. Throughout modern political history, rising antisemitism has been an unmistakable marker of cultural decay.
Dying from compassion October 22, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, Respect Life, The Catholic Difference This descent into emotivism and sentimentality has profound consequences for society as well as for individuals.
An important civics lesson, well taught October 8, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Books, Commentary, Supreme Court, The Catholic Difference What I find most impressive in Justice Barrett’s book, however, is not its depth of knowledge or its readability but its tacit display of public service lived vocationally: not as a matter of career enhancement, not as a means of acquiring wealth, and certainly not as performance art.
Catholics and gender ideology September 24, 2025By George Weigel Filed Under: Commentary, The Catholic Difference Bishop Thomas does not hesitate to tell two important truths. First, gender ideology proposes a false idea of our humanity: one that denies the biblical truth about us, reduces us to mere bundles of morally equal desires, and does serious damage to individuals and society. Second, gender dysphoria causes real suffering, but there is no clinical evidence that “transitioning” yields long-term mental health benefits.
A heroic example September 18, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, Sports, The Catholic Difference America needs the example of a real hero: a dedicated hero who enhances natural talents by hard work and takes pride in a craft; an unselfish hero who places team above self.
Let’s make America serious again September 10, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, The Catholic Difference Has the Great Republic lost the capacity for serious public debate? Why is American politics dominated by the screamers and the vulgarizers? Where are the adults in the room?
‘Public’ does not equal ‘state’ or ‘government’ June 18, 2025By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: Commentary, Supreme Court, The Catholic Difference The U.S. Supremes kicked the can down the road in St. Isidore. But the cause of school choice continues. And it will ultimately prevail, because it’s the will of “We, the People.”
