This Sunday’s readings present us with two temptations: Adam and Eve in the Garden, and Jesus during His time in the desert. But where Adam failed, Jesus triumphed. We unpack the readings with Rob Corzine.

Guest Info

Rob Corzine is the Vice President of Programs for the St Paul Center for Biblical Theology.

Blaise Pascal observed that all people seek happiness, and that all man’s actions ultimately seek this end. But since perfect happiness eludes us in this life, all we can hope is to be “happier.” One aspect of being happier, within reach of us all, is to grow in love. But to grow in love we need practical wisdom. We talk more with Christopher Kaczor.

Further Reading

Practical Wisdom for a Happier Life

Book: Is Belief Believable? Reasoning About God from Plato and Aquinas to C. S. Lewis and Jordan Peterson

Follow Professor Kaczor on X

Guest Info

Dr. Christopher Kaczor is President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association and Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University. A Fulbright scholar, his eighteen books include Is Belief Believable?: Reasoning About God from Plato and Aquinas to C. S. Lewis and Jordan Peterson. Kaczor was appointed a von Humbolt Fellow, a Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, a visiting fellow at the University of Notre Dame, and William E. Simon Visiting Fellow at Princeton University. He can be found on X at @Prof_Kaczor.

In a 6-3 ruling this morning, the Supreme Court struck down many elements of President Trump’s signature tariffs. The Founding Fathers designed our government with a system of checks and balances, so that no one branch could become too powerful. Marcus looks at the deeply Christian foundations of this system.

February 22 marks the anniversary of one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports – the United States’ victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Taking place in the midst of the Cold War just weeks after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the “Miracle on Ice” was much more than a game. It represented a clash between civilizations, cultures, and worldviews. Marcus has more.

The Priestly Society of St. Pius X says it will proceed with plans to consecrate new bishops on July 1 without a pontifical mandate, despite a Vatican warning that the move would represent a “decisive rupture” of communion and bring “grave consequences” for the group. Matthew Bunson reports on this and other Church news.

Further Reading

Society of St. Pius X says it will consecrate bishops without papal mandate despite Vatican warning

Cardinal Parolin: The Vatican ‘Will Not Participate in Trump’s Board of Peace’

Knoxville Bishop Richard Stika, who resigned after Vatican mismanagement investigation, dies at 68

Remembering Angelo Gugel

Guest Info

Matthew Bunson is Vice President and Editorial Director of EWTN News and a Senior Fellow at St Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He’s the author or co-author of more than 50 books including the first English-language biography of Pope Francis and The Encyclopedia of Catholic History. Follow him on twitter at MattBunson. Register Radio airs Saturdays at 4 pm and Sundays at 11 am on Ave Maria Radio

Why should we bother fasting? Why do those ascetical practices in Lent or any other time? Why bother with this self-discipline, this extra penance, especially if we’re already living fairly moderate lives? Isn’t it better to eat, drink, and be merry, given that we might die tomorrow? We talk with David Deavel.

Further Reading

Only The Lover Fasts

Guest Info

David Paul Deavel is Associate Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX, and Senior Contributor at The Imaginative Conservative. The paperback edition of Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West, edited with Jessica Hooten Wilson, is now available in paperback.

Western novels, songs, and films make many assumptions about love and marriage. Yet one underlying expectation continues to shock the non-Western world: dispositive spousal consent, or the belief that a marriage is valid because two individuals freely choose one another, rather than because their families or political authorities approve the match. We talk more about this “free market” of marriage with Clara Piano.

Further Reading

Marriage: The Free Market We Take for Granted

Guest Info

Clara E. Piano is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Mississippi, a position which will become tenure-track in Fall 2026. Her primary areas of research are family economics, law and economics, and public choice. She has also been a lecturer of economics at the Catholic University of America and George Mason University.

Pope Leo has declared the period from January 10, 2026 to January 10, 2027 to be the Year of St. Francis, in commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the saint’s death. A plenary indulgence can be obtained during this time, one of the conditions for which is a pilgrimage to a Franciscan church. Fr. James Conlon of St. Francis in Ann Arbor joins us.

Further Reading

Indulgence is an encounter with God, not a spiritual shortcut’

Learn more about St Francis parish

The U.S. bishops’ latest religious liberty report warns that threats are coming from multiple directions — and calls Catholics across the political spectrum to respond. Andrea Picciotti-Bayer joins us.

Further Reading

As America Turns 250, Bishops Sound the Alarm on Religious Freedom

Guest Info

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is a legal analyst for EWTN News, and director of the Conscience Project.

This year, the Muslim observation of Ramadan falls during February and March, during the Catholic observation of Lent. To the untrained eye, these seasons are similar, containing times of fasting and reparation for sin. But Lent is much more than a “Catholic Ramadan.” Marcus has more.

Click here to get Marcus’ Lenten reflections book