Michael Sean Winters

The pope is known for his spicy way of saying things. And he speaks his mind. There are times, however, when it is better to say nothing than to throw out statements that sound designed to make headlines. 

Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia communicates to the reader not just his thoughts about theology, but his love for the church, which shines through precisely because of its role in the divine plan.

The pope's words, said at a mosque in the most populous Muslim nation on earth, invite all of us Catholics to think about how we encounter persons of other religions.

The feel-good vibes coming out of the Democratic convention are running into the strong headwinds of culturally conservative working-class voters. 

Undecided voters are difficult to figure out: In this highly polarized political environment, who could be undecided?

Laborem exercens, published by Pope John Paul II in 1981, broke new ground in the church's reflection on labor. "It remains a fruitful guide," Michael Sean Winters writes.

Political interviews, like the one CNN's Dana Bash conducted with Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last night, are not usually the stuff of high drama in a campaign, but these are not usual times. 

It is an interesting question why The New York Times tends to mostly highlight conservative Catholics in its opinion pages, like the recent op-ed about the influence of conservative converts to Catholicism.

Democracies are not empires, modernity is not antiquity, class structures have changed entirely, but the human heart remains the human heart.

The Democrats helped themselves with this week's convention, appearing energized and mostly unified. They projected confidence not just about their chances in November but for the future of the country.

What is absent from political conventions is often as problematic as what is present. Party conventions have become coronations, a fact that oddly fails to serve the interests of the person being crowned.

"As the Democrats gather in Chicago this week for their convention, pro-life Democrats worry that there may be no room for us anymore in this party to which we are committed," Michael Sean Winters writes.

George Weigel "lumps together" complicated history to attack the CCHD's model of community organizing, a perspective NCR's Michael Sean Winters calls "nothing more than ideological reductionisms and gross caricatures." 

When JD Vance converted to Catholicism, he evidently missed the session on church teaching about human dignity, and the one about church history, and the one on biblical exegesis regarding welcoming the stranger.

 With Donald Trump doubling down on his base by choosing an articulate ideologue like JD Vance, Kamala Harris has the opportunity to reach for the center and win big, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The election is no longer a referendum on President Joe Biden. That has been replaced by a new narrative about passing the torch to a new generation, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Minnesota's governor comes across as a real person, not a polled-out politician, and fits into Harris' desire to unite the party and be mindful of Middle America's working-class voters, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

"The Biden administration should be applauded by all for its tireless efforts to free Americans and others who are falsely imprisoned," NCR's Michael Sean Winters writes.

When you get past the partisan lenses and the ideological lenses and the identity politics lenses, all the things that have become polarized and intransigent, we might find that which is truly human, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The statements issued by Bishops Barron and Cozzens responding to the Olympics opening ceremony were overwrought, says NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.