"Magnifica Humanitas is ultimately asking for one very simple, yet very difficult result: conversion. And Leo is not directing his message only to tech giants, think tanks or legislatures. He wants conversion from us."
We should not be surprised if Catholics are asked to pay a price for what their leaders are compelled to do in service of the Gospel. Sometimes the Gospel requires that we bear a burden.
We are encouraged by the bishops who have spoken out against the Trump administration's assault on human dignity. But to those bishops who have remained silent, we ask one simple question: What are you waiting for?
Authoritarianism thrives on resignation. This is why the most urgent task before us is not simply political opposition, but moral recovery. We must relearn what it means to be a people capable of nonviolent resistance.
With his invasion of Venezuela and capture of its leader, President Trump dares us to take stock, dares us to say that he has gone too far, and dares us to engage in acts of resistance equal to his destructive behavior.
The pontiff offers something rare: a pastor-leader urging the church to reclaim the dignity of every person — not as an abstract idea, but as the core of its public witness.
The U.S. bishops' statement on immigration may be benign, but it is — at least — a beginning. Our fear is that it will be treated as an end in and of itself.
