The Rev. Robert Sirico offers his thoughts on the announcement this morning from Pope Benedict XVI that he is resigning from the papal office as of February 28. It is a sobering thought to think that the last time a Pope resigned (Pope Gregory XII in 1415), America had not yet been discovered. Yes, the possibility of a Pope’s resignation is anticipated in Canon Law (Canon 332), as long as it is disclosed “properly” and of his own free will....

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough is author of popular biographies such as Truman and John Adams, and at 79 years old, he’s still going strong. When asked by Harvard Business Review whether he is ready to retire, McCullough offered some interesting perspective on how he views his work through the American founders’ understanding of the “pursuit of happiness” (HT): I can’t wait to get out of bed every morning. To me, it’s the only way to live. When the founders...

Michelle Rhee isn’t afraid of controversy. In 2007 she took the job of chancellor of Washington, D.C. public schools, one of the worst districts in the country. Given a free hand by the city’s mayor, she instituted a number of reforms that, while modest and sensible (accountability, standardized testing), were considered “radical” by many residents of D.C. Rhee even fired 266 teachers and defended her actions by saying, “I got rid of teachers who had hit children, who had had...

As occurrences of preventable diseases increase and the debt deepens, some look to “sin taxes” as an easy to solution to both problems. Thirty-three states have even gone as far as to implement a soda tax in an attempt to curb obesity. At first glance sin taxes seem to be a good idea, but they can actually cause more harm than good. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has just published a working paper on sin taxes and their...

Shock waves went through Rome at about noon today and the rest of the Catholic, make that the entire, world, as news came that Pope Benedict XVI will resign as Pope on February 28. We’ll have much more from Rome about this tremendous, unprecedented event (Pope Gregory XII resigned in 1415 in very different circumstances). Here’s what Pope Benedict had to say about a Pope resigning in the 2010 interview Light of the World: Q:The great majority of [the sexual...

“We’re ing like Europe” captures many Americans’ sense that something has changed in American economic life since the Great Recession’s onset in 2008. An economy once characterized mitments to economic liberty, rule of law, limited government, and personal responsibility appears to be drifting in a distinctly “European” direction. Across the Atlantic, Americans see European economies faltering under enormous debt; overburdened welfare states; high taxation; heavily regulated labor markets; aging populations; large numbers of public-sector workers; and governments controlling close to...

Today Pope Benedict XVI issued a statement that he was renouncing his ministry as the Bishop of Rome, effectively abdicating as of February 28, 2013. The Acton Institute has created a resource page that will provide news and analysis of this historic event, and the election of a new pope. You can find the current resources and follow future updates here. ...

MarvinOlasky,editor in chief ofWORLD Magazine, just listed Samuel Gregg’s ing Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and How America Can Avoid a European Future in his mid-Winter roundup of books to read. He says: Samuel Gregg’s ing Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and How America Can Avoid a European Future (Encounter, 2013) is a lucid account of the Europeanization of America’s political culture not only through quasi-socialistic programs but through personnel. Gregg shows how European leaders typically attend indoctrinating universities and then spend...

Rev. Sirico will be on Real News tonight between 6-7pm EST. You can find the program on Dish Network (ch. 212) and online at Glenn Beck’s internet channel, The Blaze. ...

Today, Acton’s Rome office and the world were stunned by what the Dean of the College of Cardinals said was a “bolt out of the blue”: just after midday Benedict XVI informed the public that he would be stepping down as the Catholic Church’s pontiff and one of the world’s preeminent moral and spiritual leaders, effective on February 28. He will be the first pope to abdicate voluntarily the Seat of St. Peter in nearly 600 years. The last one...