Michael Sean Winters

The Democrats' new spending bill, which advances popular policies and makes corporations pay a minimum tax, suggests that the party of FDR is back. Will working-class voters follow?

When the current political climate is as prone to wildfires as is the natural environment, helping get these extremist GOP candidates within striking distance is a risk that Democrats should not have taken.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Mitch McConnell's "historic miscalculation"; Megan McArdle and Meghan Clark on abortion; absurd Florida law targets felon voters; Boris Johnson's chums.

Michael Sean Winters: Pope Francis is not afraid of genuine contrition. And he delivered a master class in taking responsibility for the sins of the past during his meetings with Indigenous people in Canada.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: The U.S. bishops' own sensum fidelium; approaches to synodality in Australia and Germany; Abbott vs. O'Rourke; Trump vs. DeSantis; beauty from Bach.

Michael Sean Winters: The biography of groundbreaking Black Catholic journalist Daniel Rudd, whose birthplace was demolished earlier this year, challenges all of us to the work of racial justice and equality.

Michael Sean Winters: George Weigel and Archbishop Joseph Naumann criticize Pope Francis in ways that are uniquely American and increasingly anachronistic.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Ambiguity in abortion bans; a conservative writer takes on Jordan Peterson over Putin and Ukraine; the collapse of the Biden agenda; left-wing monoculture.

Michael Sean Winters: The appointment of three women to serve on the Dicastery for Bishops is an enormous change in the life of the Roman Curia and in the life of the universal church.

Michael Sean Winters: Why should taxpayers' dollars go to offer a shred of protection to anarcho-capitalists and those they duped? Let them enjoy their libertarian paradise, and enjoy the consequences, good or bad.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Fr. Gerry O'Hanlon on Ireland's pre-synodal assembly; praise for Garvey ignores predecessor; tougher approaches to Russia; codependency as a "toxic myth."

Michael Sean Winters: "Houston, we have a problem." Tom Hanks' memorable line in the movie "Apollo 13" seems like an appropriate starting point to consider the ecclesiastical situation in the great state of Texas.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Essay backs Ukraine's war of self-defense; Family Research Council applies to be a church; Republican inroads among Latinos; Boris Johnson and Donald Trump.

Michael Sean Winters: No one wants a Supreme Court with its finger to the wind, but the current conservative majority seems to enjoy thumbing its nose at the American people.

Michael Sean Winters: Critics of Merrick Garland fault him for not being more aggressive in prosecuting Donald Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election. But where would anyone find a jury willing to convict him?

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Chicago religious leaders condemn anti-Catholic bigotry; Gloria Purvis on abortion and Black women; listen to B+ Catholics; reflecting on the good Samaritan.

Michael Sean Winters: In a letter on the liturgy, published last week, Pope Francis, in line with Vatican II, again invites all Catholics to drink deeply from the wellspring of our faith, the paschal mystery.

Michael Sean Winters: Foreign Affairs authors make the case that the response to the war in Ukraine is the "last best hope" for Western powers to create a rules-based international order; only patronize hotels that do this.

Our independence succeeds only to the extent it is balanced by societal interdependence, by bonds that might restrain our independence and freedom but that do so in pursuit of the common good, by mutual dependence.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Michael Gerson is passionate without being tendentious; why we need to overcome Trump fatigue; $50,000 to meet Cardinal Pell, $20,000 to meet Cardinal Sarah.