A post-Enlightenment future

Our Dispatches contributors were kind enough to share some thoughts on what stories are likely to be important in 2022 as we cross off, in some relief, the concluding days of 2021.

“Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi’s position on abortion has become only more extreme over the years, especially in the last few months,” Archbishop Cordileone said in a statement May 20.

Even in the exceedingly unlikely event that every bishop miraculously agreed on how to approach the question of Communion and abortion, it still would not resolve the political question of abortion in favor of the Catholic position.

John Bel Edwards is bringing “common sense and compassion” to the governor's office in Louisiana. Is the pro-life Democrat a model for how his party can win Catholic voters nationwide?

It is a great privilege to be here with you this evening to be with the many friends and admirers of Cardinal Dulles and to offer these words in deep appreciation and gratitude for all that he has been for us, all that he has shared with us as priest, as theologian and as friend. It would be neglige

The day after introducing Pope Francis’ address to Congress in 2015, John Boehner stepped down as House speaker. America editor Matt Malone, S.J., talks to Mr. Boehner about the state of U.S. politics, then and now.

Covid-19, the 2020 election and racial justice remained hot topics in 2021. But the past year also brought new debates within the Catholic Church, including over the Latin Mass.

With rapid advances in medicine and sweeping changes in the U.S. health care landscape, some are suggesting that the U.S. bishops’ Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services needs a complete overhaul.

When the state becomes predatory, the defenders of the faith are called upon to point people in the right direction, away from the violence of the authorities and back to God.