This year marks the 30th anniversary of John Paul II’s important encyclical, Centesimus Annus. While the average lay person might not pay attention to formal pronouncements by the Roman Catholic Church, papal encyclicals are significant in their affirmation of the church’s social doctrine. Of course, Protestants have no such magisterium to which they might appeal, and it goes without saying that there exists no such thing as “Protestant social teaching.” Given the importance of the Christian church’s unity and its...

If it is true that we face unprecedented and unforeseen challenges when es to environmental catastrophe and deprivation, don’t we need more creativity, more ingenuity and more initiative to pioneer a proper path forward? These are features of civilization e from having more humans. Read More… It’s e fashionable for doomsday prophets to predict that “overpopulation” will lead to mass starvation and environmental catastrophe. Now, however, with humanity facing a global crash in birthrates, many experts are rightly changing their...

This essay won firstplace in the essay contest of the Acton Institute’s 2020 Poverty Cure Summit, which took place on Nov. 18-19, 2020. This essay is presented as it was submitted. – Ed. Eradicating poverty, or at least effectively reducing it, is one of the oldest and most debated issues in the field of economics. Several solutions have already been presented and yet the problem persists in many places. The specificity of each region of the globe makes it even...

Our weakened state, due to original sin, does not mean that we are wicked, evil, or insignificant. It means that we have a wound—a particular kind of wound that demands a particular kind of medicine. Read More… In his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Biden offered a renewed vision of America, claiming a revitalizing economy, a growing distribution of vaccinations, and efforts to end injustice against race and gender identity. His e through hollow as many...

From violating burial rites to blame-shifting toward religious minorities to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, the pandemic has served as a precursor to all sorts of anti-religious mischief. A new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms shows how religious freedoms have been curtailed across the world. Read More… COVID-19 has posed unique challenges to religious liberty across the United States, spurring politicians to impose public health measures that restricted in-person worship services. Globally, the situation has often been much...

President Biden wants to pump nearly $2 trillion more into the U.S. economy under the guise of “economic stimulus.” But the country’s economy has already been growing for months, proving that American politicians have adopted the term “stimulus” for a new regime of spending programs that drive up debt needlessly, taking a page out of Xi Jinping playbook. Read More… Proposals for “economic stimulus”, the use of monetary or fiscal policy to stimulate the economy, have e a permanent fixture...

For those who are lost and looking for meaning in a fragmented world – constantly torn between idols of work and leisure, with little left in between – “the power of holy intent” orients our hearts and hands beyond ourselves. It focuses our worship on the Worker and Creator who made us in his image and likeness. It reminds us that, whether we recognize it or not, he is the one we are truly working for. Read More… America’s new...

As Pope Francis recognizes, speculation is part-and-parcel of the modern economic world. He also plainly believes that it is subject to the demands of morality and justice. The question thus es: How do we judge whether any act of speculation is right and just, or wrong and unjust? Read More… In his Prayer Intentions for May 2021, Pope Francis is asking that Catholics pray for strict regulation of financial markets to protect the poor. But is strict government oversight what...

What happens in California doesn’t tend to stay in California – and that’s usually bad for America. For instance, “55% of all public school students, including those in charter schools, were at home, in distance learning, as of April 30, according to an EdSource analysis of new data released by the state.” However, a new and growing parental rights movement in the state is making headlines, creating change, and forging a national push for the nation’s still-shuttered schools to reopen...

Politicians have given us many occasions to be critical of their actions. Politics, like all sausage making, is rarely palatable. Nevertheless, Aristotle observed that man is by nature a political animal, drawn into association with others in order to satisfy inherently social needs. Politics need not take the form of what Ambrose Bierce calls it in The Devil’s Dictionary: “a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.” Of course, thinking about politics clearly and constructively is often made...