One must praise conservative material that airs on PBS for the same reason one must take note of shooting stars: for the comparative rarity and brevity of the experience. Yet high praise is due to the taxpayer-funded network for airing the magisterial documentary Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words on May 18. Continue Reading...
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May 22, 2020
Profitable Vatican museums postpone opening during phase 2
In an article I published today in Catholic World Report, “The profitable Vatican Museums remain closed, look toward a June opening,” I posed some tough questions to Rev. Kevin Likey, a priest of the Legionaries of Christ from Flint, Michigan, who is currently serving as the director of the Vatican Museums Patrons’ Office. Continue Reading...
May 21, 2020
What the Costa Rica Beer Factory can teach us about reopening the economy
Many restaurants still remain closed or constrained due to COVID-19 and the corresponding lockdowns, spurring renewed appreciation for the contributions that such businesses make. Yet in addition to reminding us of the humanizing aspect and social value of these businesses, the lockdowns have also highlighted the vulnerability of local enterprise in the face of onerous rules and regulations. Continue Reading...
May 20, 2020
The Acton Institute encourages 275 million people to embrace liberty
From the Enlightenment to the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Jacques Derrida, the power of French ideas has radically altered the rest of the world. The Acton Institute has engaged France’s long history as a global thought leader in two new French-language articles, which discuss contemporary French influence on U.S. Continue Reading...
May 20, 2020
One narrative to rule them all?
There is no one experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. National experiences vary wildly between New Zealand and Italy. Business experiences differ, as well. Pier 1 is going out of business, while Walmart sales have jumped. Continue Reading...
May 20, 2020
Acton Line podcast: Lyman Stone on the decline of religiosity in the United States
Religion plays, and has always played, a crucial role in American life. In the past 75 years, however, religiosity has been in rapid decline. What’s causing the decline? In a new study from the American Enterprise Institute, demographer Lyman Stone helps answer. Continue Reading...
May 19, 2020
Rev. Robert Sirico: What would Fr. Neuhaus think of ‘First Things’ now?
First Things magazine has transformed radically from the days when Rev. Richard John Neuhaus established it as the foremost magazine of Christian engagement with the public square. Acton Institute President and Co-founder Rev. Continue Reading...
May 18, 2020
For St. John Paul II’s 100th birthday, Italy gets gift of religious freedom
Today, May 18, is a very good day, indeed. It is a heroic day for the Italian Catholic Church on the 100th anniversary of Pope St. John Paul II’s birth. There could not be a better birthday gift from a saint who, fluent in 13 languages, was a veritable Paraclete-on-earth. Continue Reading...
May 18, 2020
How John Paul II reminded us that liberty and truth are inseparable
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the late John Paul II’s birth, it’s worth underscoring that one theme which permeated his pontificate from its beginning to the end was that of truth. Continue Reading...
May 18, 2020
The 1619 Projection: 3 lies Pulitzer should not reward
The 1619 Project’s introductory essay, written by Nikole Hannah-Jones, won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary—and, notably, not for history or public service. That distinction is illuminating. The 1619 Project makes unfounded assertions about the role of slavery in American political and economic history, and it inverts reality to portray slave owners as the embodiment of free-market principles. Continue Reading...