The U S Senate rsquo s Judiciary Committee begins its confirmation hearings today for nominee Sonya Sotomayor The Post had a great piece yesterday from her collegiate mentor at Princeton that shows her to be precisely the kind of hard-working fair-minded and deeply read person we want on the Cou

Readers know that I am not in the habit of responding to comments on my posts mostly because I think the comment section properly belongs to the readers I have said my piece now you all should have your chance And some of you readers post so thoughtfully and so regularly and get such good deba

Every morning I go to the Vatican website to consult the daily Bollettino where they post important announcements such as the Rinunce e Nominee and Le Udienze This morning rsquo s had this notice under the latter category Il Santo Padre riceve questo pomeriggio in Udienza nbsp S E il Signo

What with the papal encyclical Caritas in Veritate released at the beginning of the week and the Pope receiving President Obama at week rsquo s end there is much to write about regarding both events But I do not want to overlook another important event in the life of the Church in America and ind

The hubris of George Weigel knows no bounds In a breathtaking essay at National Review Online Weigel concludes that Pope Benedict rsquo s encyclical Caritas in Veritate resembles a duck-billed platypus because it is in his view a bad combination of the Pope rsquo s true thought with those pas

Pope Benedict XVI rsquo s new encyclical quot Caritas in Veritate quot is likely to be this Pontiff rsquo s most significant contribution to the Church rsquo s social doctrine It is telling that he chose to organize his thoughts around the anniversary of Paul VI rsquo s quot Populorum Progressio

I hate to say quot I told you so quot but I did And the truth be told in this instance I do not hate telling you that I was prescient when I predicted the upcoming visit of President Obama to Pope Benedict would occasion gnashing of teeth within the conservative blogosphere What has been esp

I love listening to the President address issues like health care reform or fixing the economy He is lucid in ways few of our presidents have been and virtually no other contemporary politician is He seems to accurately assess not only the issues involved but the values that underlay the issues P

As mentioned yesterday Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute has produced a short discourse on the Pope rsquo s not-yet released encyclical on social justice over at First Things Novak rsquo s article is to the encyclical what condoms are to intercourse Novak is trying and trying de

Pope Benedict rsquo s encyclical on social justice is set to be released any day now But Michael Novak is already at the barricades interpreting the text In an article at First Things Novak has begun setting the parameters for discussion of the papal text It is important to note that the title