A fine recent article on the late Renaissance painter Caravaggio* reminded me that artistic brilliance may not always be matched by moral achievement. This is a problem that plagues everyone in every walk in life, but it is particularly annoying when the moral reputation of an artist stands between his work and our ability to appreciate it...

In robotics, as in so many things, small is beautiful. The trouble is that making them really small is very nearly impossible. “Building robots that operate independently at sizes below one millimeter is incredibly difficult,” says roboticist Marc Miskin at the University of Pennsylvania. “The field has essentially been stuck on this problem for 40 years.”

For generations, the archbishop of New York has held a singular place in the life of the Catholic Church in the United States — standing at the crossroads of culture, conscience and public witness. Few shepherds embodied that national role more clearly than Cardinal John O’Connor, who died in May 2000 after nearly 16 years as archbishop of New York...

Coming a few days after Christmas 2025, the protests erupting in Iran caught much of the Western world by surprise. Of course, Iran has had major protests before (2009-2010, 2011, 2019-2020, 2022-2023), which have often been brutally suppressed by the Islamic Republic’s security forces. This time, however, the protests appear to have been even larger...

In an undelivered address to cardinals last week, Cardinal Arthur Roche planned to voice opposition to the traditional Roman Rite, which he sees as a concession that needs to be eventually phased out in favor of the post-Vatican II liturgy as the unique expression of the Latin Rite. In a two-page text on Traditionis Custodes...

The University of Notre Dame plans to install as director of a university-wide institute a scholar who has described laws prohibiting abortion as “violence,” “sexual abuse” and “trauma” and has linked efforts to end abortion to white supremacy. “Abortion access is freedom-enhancing, in the truest sense of the word,” states a column in Salon co-authored by Susan Ostermann...

The direction of the Leonine pontificate is still not yet clear, but the consistory of cardinals last week gave some further indications. Pope Leo XIV intends to continue in the direction of his immediate predecessor, but he prefers to do as Pope Francis said, rather than what Pope Francis did. In announcing the topics for the consistory last month, Leo chose four that were central to the Francis pontificate...

This morning, I read a beautiful and practical insight about a power for good at my fingertips. The effects of kindness are disproportionately far-reaching. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced. And really encouraged. At times the ugliness of how people treat each other can be overwhelming. It doesn’t help that the failings and weaknesses we directly experience...

The Vatican’s Court of Cassation has cleared the way for the appeal phase of the Secretariat of State funds trial — commonly tied in headlines to Cardinal Angelo Becciu — rejecting last-ditch procedural challenges and accepting the recusal of Vatican Promoter of Justice Alessandro Diddi from the case.

The Vatican Mosaic Studio of the Fabric of Saint Peter has completed the mosaic medallion dedicated to Pope Leo XIV, the Holy See Press Office announced on Wednesday. In accordance with the ancient tradition that accompanies the election of every Pope, just over eight months after the election of Pope Leo XIV, the studio has completed the mosaic portrait destined for the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls...