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The earliest documented use of the term pro-life was in a book on parenting and child education. The book, Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing, by A.S. Neil, was published in 1960 and contained the statement that “no pro-life parent or teacher would ever strike a child. No pro-life citizen would tolerate our penal code, our hangings, our punishment of homosexuals.” 

However, that’s not how the ...

Catholic history is full of famous excommunications involving court intrigue and geopolitical conflicts. Henry VIII of England was excommunicated twice: first in a “provisional excommunication,” by Pope Clement, then again by Pope Paul III, in 1538. An earlier English monarch, Henry II, also clashed with the church—specifically, with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. Though Becket never excommunicated Henry, he ...

St. Augustine of Hippo, the fourth century theologian, philosopher, and doctor of the church, shaped Christian theology in myriad ways. Multiple Christian denominations draw heavily on Augustine’s ideas about grace, original sin, free will, and the trinity. And now, with the election of Pope Leo XIV, an Augustinian priest is steering the entire global Catholic Church. 

But one area of Augustine’s thought d...

Conversations among Catholics about trans people and the church often center on questions of inclusion and belonging in relation to church life and teachings. Can trans people be baptized into the church or partake in other sacraments? Should trans Catholics be allowed to join religious orders? The conversations often proceed as though trans Catholics are fundamentally a problem to be solved. 

Even when th...

The Catholic Church, albeit not a democratic nation-state, has one of the most long-standing voting traditions in the world. When a pope dies, their successor is chosen by election. However, only a few Catholics—the cardinals of the church—participate. And the Catholic magisterium teaches that even though humans vote, it’s the Holy Spirit guiding the process. Even though the pope is the head of state for Vatican City, ...

According to the gospel of Matthew, shortly after Jesus was born an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee with his family to Egypt, since King Herod was going to try to kill the new baby. They stayed there, according to Christian tradition, until Herod had died and it was safe to return. This incident, popularly known as the “flight to Egypt,” has inspired an array of artistic depictions. It has also ...

Belief in a literal six-day creation, including a literal Adam and Eve, is more associated with evangelical Christianity than with Catholicism. Most Catholic schools teach evolutionary theory as the best and most reliable account of the origin of life and see no conflict between this and orthodox Catholic faith. At the same time, some Catholics still promote a creationist view on the origins of humanity.

W...

Nearly a century ago, a Spanish priest named Josemaría Escrivá founded a religious movement intended to summon Christians of all races, ages, and social classes to renew the world, not by separating themselves from it, but by making their everyday lives holy. 

Today, the group Escriva founded, known as Opus Dei (“Work of God”) is a highly respected group with approximately 90,000 members, active in 70 coun...

Christian history has multiple stories of people who felt called by God to separate themselves from the bustle of society and live alone, often in remote places. In the first centuries of Christianity, the desert fathers and mothers went into the wilderness seeking a simple life of spirituality and prayer. In the Byzantine Empire there were the stylites, or pillar-saints, who lived atop columns and practiced extreme as...

The Bible is full of vivid, fascinating characters: heroes and antiheroes, tricksters and villains. One of the most memorable biblical villains is Queen Jezebel, wife of King Ahab in Kings 1 and 2. Jezebel shows up in multiple stories: persecuting the prophet Elijah, trying to institute the worship of the god Ba’al, conniving to steal a vineyard, and finally dying a gruesome death. She is mentioned in the book of Revel...

As of March 2025, Elon Musk, the richest person in the world according to Bloomberg, was valued to be worth 311 billion dollars. To help put this quantity in perspective: In order for the average middle-class person earning around $45,000 a year to earn even $1 billion, they would have to devote all their time to work, while spending nothing, for over 21,000 years—that is, longer than human history. 

Given...

In the United States, nativity scenes are part of the ordinary landscape of Christmas—even in secular spaces. You might see a blow-up nativity scene, all in garish colors, in front of a neighborhood store. Or in church, traditional statuary depicting European-looking characters. Some homes and religious organizations feature nativity scenes from around the world, with the holy family in diverse cultural garb. But no ma...

Often, Catholics refer to Mary with the various honorifics we have attached to her over the centuries: Mother of God, Blessed Virgin, or Queen of Heaven. When we imagine her, we may think of famous paintings representing her as a queen, crowned and throned, holding baby Jesus. While these titles all highlight important theological truths about Mary, and our religious art helps us venerate her as the most important sain...

It’s difficult to avoid artificial intelligence these days. When searching on Google or reading product reviews, there’s a good chance that you’ll be offered the option to read an AI-generated summary. Or maybe an AI tool will offer to write your work email for you. Savvy users are typically able to detect the errors in AI summaries, but even the most cautious and informed person might find it difficult to sort through...

Even 700 years after his death, St. Thomas Aquinas is still one of most influential theologians in the history of the Catholic Church. The Dominican friar, philosopher, and theologian wrote extensively about morals, liturgy, the sacraments, humanity, and the nature of God. He drew on multiple non-Christian and pre-Christian traditions to articulate the relationship between natural reason and revealed truth. 

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