Weekly Summary: 2/28/2026
The week in review, from the perspective of a veteran Catholic journalist
Another busy week. If you’re not a subscriber, you may have missed:
Articles
My online seminar about the just-war tradition has concluded, but the discussion continues— and the latest news about Iran makes the topic all the more relevant! This week I opened up the Comments in that section, hoping to stimulate the debate.
The Society of St. Pius X has precipitated a crisis in the Catholic Church with its plans to ordain new bishops in defiance of the Vatican.
In a CatholicCulture column I suggested that the SSPX leaders should ask themselves, “What if I’m wrong?” But Vatican officials should be asking that question as well.
Then in a 2nd post I remarked why the SSPX poses such a challenge to the Church, and how this could be the moment for some overdue honesty about a crisis in our faith.
Having blasted the Notre Dame last week for the astonishing appointment of a pro-abortion zealot, I had to give the school’s administration credit for resolving the problem quietly (if not completely).
The US bishops’ conference submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, calling for the restoration of ‘birthright citizenship.’ The Court faces an interesting constitutional argument, but the USCCB brief was both incoherent and presumptuous, as I explained in a CatholicCulture piece. Incoherent, because the logic of the brief suggests that most European governments— and the Catholic teaching expressed in the Catechism— offend against natural law. Presumptuous, because his is a political dispute, which should be left to the laity.
On the Home Front podcast, Leila and I discussed the dangerous challenge to the Church from the SSPX-- and a possible solution. Also, we recommend a film about the heroic Mexican Catholic warriors, the Cristeros, who fought for religious freedom, only to be betrayed.
Notes
The Vatican is now using AI to offer translations of all papal audiences. What could possibly go wrong?
An excellent First Things article by a canon lawyer, explaining why the sex-abuse scandal still haunts the Church, having caused a crisis in priestly morale.
A New York Times op-ed recognized— at long last— that “experts” led the country astray about gender-change treatments. Can we finally learn to trust the science, not the people who suppress the scientific realities?
Leila observed that the US bishops repeatedly put faithful Catholics in “resistance mode”— this week with their intervention on immigration and birthright citizenship (see above).
A Brazilian archbishop said that anyone who celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass without his authorization would be guilty of schism and excommunicated. Is this the only issue on which bishops will exercise their authority?
As I write, the latest news reports claim that in air strikes against Iran, US and Israeli forces have “eliminated” all of that country’s top leaders. If true, does that represent a great military success? I doubt it; from a just-war perspective, it creates a new problem.
