In this morning's Washington Post, Michael Gerson on the importance of manners. The entire article makes an important point but I would especially call attention to his noting that morals and manners are very different, and that the latter is profoundly conditioned by culture. Then he writes: "But being relative does not make them trivial." The word "relativism" has been thrown around too lightly in RC circles. It is rarely an all or nothing.
At Politico, an analysis of the brewing fight over how to rescue Puerto Rico. This is an easy call. If the hedge funds win, Puerto Rico will face a humanitarian crisis. Yes, the idea of a "control board" for an island that is already a colony is problematic, but the needs of the poor come first.
Add this to the list of prebuttals in advance of the Apostolic Exhortation: George Weigel, at First Things, on all the things a pope can't do. I do not recall him penning articles about the limits of papal authority when his hero John Paul II was on the papal throne.
