Michael Sean Winters

Promising to deport "millions and millions" of migrants and repeating his "drill, baby, drill" mantra, Trump's second inaugural speech could have been a campaign speech if not for the venue, writers Michael Sean Winters.

We are called to pray for the new president and the incoming administration and to support "their efforts to advance the common good."

The thing NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters most admired about President Joe Biden's Catholicism these past four years was not his embrace of Catholic social ethics. It was his observance of our cultic ethic.

Biden defended his conduct of foreign policy at the State Department on Monday: "The United States is winning the worldwide competition compared to four years ago." That is mostly true, writes Michael Sean Winters.

President Jimmy Carter, the first politician to get me excited about politics, was a good man and a great man. His personal qualities, however, didn't translate into political success, and that was the job.

Our vice president-elect hasn't been making headlines since the election, at least not when compared to some others President-elect Donald Trump has selected to help him run the executive branch.

If you doubt Cardinal Robert McElroy is brilliant, read his book titled The Search for an American Public Theology: The Contribution of John Courtney Murray.

Cardinal Robert McElroy is a scholar of American political history and its nexus with Catholic theology. The California native studied at Harvard and Stanford and brings pastoral experience at the San Diego border.

"I therefore encourage the rulers of countries with a Christian tradition to set a good example by cancelling or reducing as much as possible the debts of the poorest countries," said Pope Francis.

The words have great staying power, still affecting our existence in such a palpable way, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The life of the church in 2024 was defined as much by what did not happen, as by what did. The most important thing that did happen was an event which was important at the tectonic level, deep underneath the surface.

Michael Sean Winters looks back on a year when it was tempting to write about unfolding events in politics as if it were the first chapter of the end of the American experiment. Still, that verdict seems premature.

There is no issue in American political life that is not leavened by an encounter with Catholic social teaching. The ability of Catholic thinkers to help the Democrats, however, is even more foundational.

Two prominent conservative journalists collaborated on the "College of Cardinals Report," which includes their 22 leading candidates for pope. The list of papabili doesn't just tilt to the right. It falls off the cliff.

Massimo Faggioli's book joins the esteemed canon of works that focus on questions about what a university should be, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters. 

"The Democrats need a populist economic platform that they can communicate effectively," writes NCR's Michael Sean Winters. They also need to "make economic populism the core of the party's identity." 

The idea that a person is a citizen of the place where he or she is born is a bulwark against any attempt to discriminate unjustly, says NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Before we Americans can overcome the polarization that plagues our politics, we need to reawaken the moral sensibilities that keep us from reducing human tragedies to culture war talking points.

Democrats must acquire a more balanced sense of history, humility about their public policy goals, and a sense of humor about human life if they are serious about winning elections again, Michael Sean Winters writes.

The one thing Francis can do to ensure a smooth papal transition is to find an occasion to summon all the cardinals to Rome next year for a multiday gathering, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.