The Declaration embraces equality—because it will not tolerate a tyrant’s cruelty. On America's 250th birthday, read Charlie Tyson on the Declaration's radical political vision: www.commonwealmagazine.org/declaration-...

The Declaration’s grievances offer a portrait of political domination, teaching us what it feels like to be subjects rather than citizens. Can we recognize the predicament it describes? New from Charlie Tyson:

The United States, on its 250th birthday, is a country in decline. American Catholics should embrace this sour semiquincentennial as a moment for discernment. New from Max Foley-Keene: www.commonwealmagazine.org/american-fou...

"We might take after Dorothy Day and embrace this sour semiquincentennial as a moment for discernment." Max Foley-Keene on revolutionary pamphlets, MAGA slop, and democratic hope:

My name's Max, and I'm very happy to be starting as digital editor at @commonwealmagazine.org! Here's my latest for the website — an America 250 take on early American pamphlet wars, MAGA slop, and Christian hope: www.commonwealmagazine.org/american-fou...

Breaking the fourth wall a bit: this is Max Foley-Keene, Commonweal’s new digital editor. I just created a personal Bluesky account — why don’t you give me a quick follow? 🥳

Happy 4th of July, for my first piece for @commonwealmagazine.org, I looked into whether or not the pandemic contributed to the nation’s rightwing lurch. Does Terror Management Theory, the idea that a repressed fear of death can have political consequences, help explain our current moment?

"The Obama Center is surely a monument to one man’s leadership—but it also issues a call to every American to do their part in making the country a better place." @heidischlumpf.bsky.social: 'You Are America'

"The path to the universal runs through the particular, not around it." Leon A. Morris on liberal religion and the task of translation:

I listened to a bunch of Vice President JD Vance's interviews about his new book "Communion" so you don't have to. He sounds more like a politician looking for votes than a spiritual seeker. My latest piece @commonwealmagazine.org : www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-van...

Just in time for the nation's 250th, my visit to the Obama Presidential Center restored my hope in democracy but the contrasts to today were striking. My piece in @commonwealmagazine.org @obamafoundation.bsky.social www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-oba...

Good day to read my critique of instant replay in @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/against-inst...

Millennial Black Americans began an exodus away from Christian churches. Many are trying to replace what those places gave them. New reporting from Aaron Robertson: 'After the Black Church'

Thankful to be part of this great lineup on #MagnificaHumanitas

"[Virgil Michel] is best remembered as a strong advocate of the belief that social justice is not something added onto the liturgy; it is integral to it." New piece on our founder by Rita Ferrone for @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/no-one-can-s...

"This summer, pilgrims are driven by unshakable faith to follow the football: overcoming any and every obstacle to be in proximity of a sporting stage where the spectacular borders on miraculous." Milo Priddle on the arduous pilgrimage to the World Cup:

The July/August issue is here! Featuring a 'Magnifica humanitas' symposium, with @antoniospadaro.bsky.social, @frankpasquale.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy, Meghan Sullivan, Kevin Gallagher, @millervincent.bsky.social, and @johntmcgreevy.bsky.social And more! www.commonwealmagazine.org/issues/2026-...

Pope Leo invites us to discern the Christian principles that must guide practical decisions about AI. Notre Dame's DELTA framework does just that. Meghan Sullivan: 'Us vs. the Robots'

"The more one’s picture of self and world are shaped by the logic of ownerism, the more difficult the genuine exchange of friendship becomes." Ian Marcus Corbin essays on buying belonging in the modern world:

"It’s time for people of goodwill (regardless of their religion) to get serious about what dignity means in this era of powerful but undignified AI." Meghan Sullivan on ensuring the diffusion of Leo’s ethical vision for AI:

About the lambs who provide the wool for the pallia presented to new metropolitan archbishops each June 29 — the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

A child of the Bicentennial era on the complexities of celebrating 250 years of the U.S. in the Trump era - my latest at @commonwealmagazine.org

In ‘Agnus Dei,’ Massimiliano Camaiti follows the nuns tasked with raising lambs for a Vatican blessing. The documentary is subtly Christlike: humble, meek, and pure. A review by @griffino.bsky.social:

"True and noble affection seems in short supply." @dominicpreziosi.bsky.social: On its 250th birthday, loving the United States proves more complicated than ever. www.commonwealmagazine.org/america-250-...

J.D. Vance sounds more like a politician than a spiritual seeker when he talks about ‘Communion.' @heidischlumpf.bsky.social: 'Book Tour or Campaign Stump?'

A few weeks ago I interviewed Bishop Steven Biegler of Cheyenne, Wyoming about his pastoral letter on immigration. Yesterday's SCOTUS decisions make this all the more urgent. Listen here at the @commonwealmagazine.org podcast: www.commonwealmagazine.org/podcast/how-...

"If reflection, encounter, and devotion are our aims, then printed books and magazines are better tools than digital screens." Joel Halldorf offers a defense of print:

"Deliberately or not, Disclosure Day includes very little that could disturb us in 2026." @robrubsam.bsky.social on the new film by Steven Spielberg:

"It should come as no surprise that the pontiff who penned the first papal encyclical on artificial intelligence prefers print to screens." Joel Halldorf explains screens discourage deep reading—and our capacity for encounter:

Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ feels insubstantial and surprisingly slight. It’s still better than most of what moviegoers are being offered these days. @robrubsam.bsky.social: 'You Could Do Worse'

Catholic social doctrine holds that mass deportation is plainly immoral. Here’s how one bishop in deep-red Wyoming is pressing the case for compassion. NEW: Bishop Steven Biegler joins the Commonweal podcast.

We are a people constantly at war and yet rarely in the crosshairs, using technology to offload the moral weight of our violent conflicts. Sophia Sheehy Bulla: 'Innocence & Impotence'

"Certeau’s work is concerned foremost with spiritual formation in the context of everyday secular life." Graham Ward on the French Jesuit Michel de Certeau’s search for the mystical:

Russia’s war in Ukraine may go down in history as the beginning of a new era of industrial warfare—with AI-powered drones at the center. The latest from the Editors: www.commonwealmagazine.org/editorial-dr...

I wrote about the twilight of the GOAT and the state of modern moviegoing for @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/rubsam-discl...

"This is a novel. No, it’s a lecture in a novel. No, it’s both." @tonydomestico.bsky.social on Ben Lerner's 'Transcription':

A few months late, I wrote on Ben Lerner's "Transcription" for @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/domestico-le...

In the third and final episode of “The City and the Cross,” Aaron Robertson reckons with what was truly lost in Detroit’s 1989 parish closures and asks whether the Catholic Church is any more committed to its Black congregants today. Listen now! www.commonwealmagazine.org/podcast/dots...

"It was clear from Leo’s remarks that the Church does not view Spain’s far-right Vox party favorably." @massimofaggioli.bsky.social on the pope's visit to Spain:

Leo’s engagement with Europe refuses the familiar language of “Christian roots.” Rather, it positions the Catholic Church in opposition to imperialism. New analysis from @massimofaggioli.bsky.social:

"In its fundamental spiritual orientation, soccer aspires to catholicity." For your World Cup enjoyment, read Joseph S. Flipper on soccer's theological virtues:

With the artist Raphael, gone are the gory details that were so popular in an image of Saint Sebastian. Instead, we're invited to see the glowing perfectibility latent within every person. @griffino.bsky.social on Raphael: Sublime Poetry

"Of course, it is reductive to read an entire short-story collection through a biographical lens, but it is hard not to think of Louise Erdrich’s personal history when reading several of these stories." Michael O’Connell reviews "Python's Kiss"

Raphael is often an afterthought to artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti, writes @griffino.bsky.social. But, as a landmark show at the Met reveals, his work deserves a second—as well as a third, fourth, and fifth—viewing.

A new short story collection by Louise Erdrich is dark, varied, and colored by her personal history. Throughout, we're reminded that things that appear to be good can be a curse, while things that appear to be threatening can actually save us.

A new book seeks to understand the world-changing significance of the Renaissance. Tom Verde reviews:

Throughout his life, psychiatrist Robert Coles believed you had to move out of the confines of the couch and clinic and into the world where people interact. Kenneth L. Woodward writes on the life and work of his old friend:

"Even on the topic of synodality itself, the U.S. bishops seem to prefer listening primarily to themselves." @heidischlumpf.bsky.social reports on the bishops' June meeting

In the fiction of Black Catholic writers, depictions of Catholic life center not on the Church but on the school. There, Black students don't so much disappear as they are violently subtracted from it by gatekeepers of the faith.

"We have not outgrown just-war doctrine because we have progressed beyond war, we have logicked our way out of evaluating the justice of the ones we wage." Sophia Sheehy Bulla on how distance from the battlefield is shaping our wars