Trump is trying to distract us from Pope Leo’s calls for peace. Don’t take the bait.

by Sam Sawyer, S.J. April 13, 2026April 13, 2026

If you are outraged—which would be both understandable and justifiable—by President Donald Trump’s social media attack last night on Pope Leo, take a moment to step back and follow the pope’s example rather than taking the president’s bait.

Of Many Things

Trump is showing what a world governed by power alone looks like. It should terrify us.

by Sam Sawyer, S.J. April 8, 2026April 8, 2026

The Trump administration’s reliance on violence and desire for domination is profoundly un-Christian.

Of Many Things

I regret supporting the Iraq War. We shouldn’t repeat our mistakes in Iran now.

by Sam Sawyer, S.J. March 4, 2026March 12, 2026

With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to see that the pope was far more clear-eyed than the politicians who opted for war in Iraq and the Catholic thinkers who helped provide the war’s putative justification.

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington Feb. 24, 2026. (OSV News photo/Kenny Holston pool via Reuters)

Of Many Things

The immigration stories Trump told in the State of the Union—and the ones he didn’t

by Sam Sawyer, S.J. February 26, 2026February 26, 2026

Throughout his nearly two-hour address, Trump highlighted victims of crimes committed by immigrants. But there are parts of the stories he does not bother to tell.

Valley View Elementary School principal Jason Kuhlman delivers food donations to families from the school Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Columbia Heights, Minn. (AP Photo/Liam James Doyle)

Of Many Things

Finding (and being) neighbors in Minnesota

by Sam Sawyer, S.J. February 12, 2026February 12, 2026

I have found myself moved by gratitude for the basic witness of goodness toward those who have come to the United States seeking a better life.

Of Many Things

Pope Leo has called his first consistory of cardinals. What makes it ‘extraordinary’?

by Sam Sawyer, S.J. January 7, 2026January 15, 2026

Even if the Vatican were to release a full transcript of this week’s consistory—which it certainly will not do—a detailed breakdown of the conversations among the cardinals would not be the most important takeaway from the meeting.

Cabinet Room at the White House on Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Of Many Things

Why President Trump is treating illegal immigration as sacrilege

by Sam Sawyer, S.J. December 3, 2025December 11, 2025

Illegal immigration is being treated as a sacrilege because it seems to violate something that has been made into an idol: the status and the security of being American.