Since becoming pope, Leo XIV has reminded us that the Catholic Church “offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching.” That tradition is especially salient now, amid the rise of Christian nationalism and of alternative interpretations of Catholicism among some high-profile  politicians in the United States.

As we confront the political, social, and spiritual challenges brought on by the second Trump administration, the moment seems right for a clear examination of Catholic social teaching by leading scholarly voices deeply rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition, especially its ethics, political philosophy, and theology. 

In this special four-episode series, a collaboration between Commonweal and senior members of the theology departments at Fordham University and Loyola University Chicago, we present four conversations, each providing a provocative, informative analysis of key political and social issues rooted in the understanding of Catholic social teaching. 

We’re calling it ‘The Counterweight: Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching in a Time of Crisis.’ 

Our participants are Christina Traina and Bryan Massingale of Fordham University, and Hille Haker and Miguel Diaz of Loyola University Chicago. Each episode will have a featured presenter, followed by a conversation among all the participants. 

Today’s episode, our first, takes up the purpose of government, an especially urgent topic given the radical departure from the principles and conventions of liberal democracy by the Trump administration. Fordham’s Christina Traina is here to explain how that departure is also a departure from Catholic social teaching’s more expansive and communal understanding of government—not just as a guarantor of rights, but a steward of the common good.

For decades, public support for the death penalty in the United States has been declining. But in recent years, the number of executions has risen sharply—and a majority of Americans still say they support capital punishment.

What’s needed, argues Atlantic staff writer Elizabeth Bruenig, is not just a deeper understanding of forgiveness, but the actual practice of mercy. Bruenig has written extensively on the death penalty in a series of articles and essays.

On this episode, she reflects on how witnessing executions—some botched, all harrowing—has shaped her thinking about capital punishment.

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It’s often remarked that America has become less religious, especially during recent decades. But what if that religiosity hasn’t disappeared, but just taken less visible forms?

That’s exactly what was happening in the arts in 1980s NYC, argues Paul Elie, author of The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s. 

As Elie tells it, the era wasn’t just marked by the ascendance of the moral majority and the authority of tradition—figures like Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan. 

It also featured subtle engagement with spiritual themes by the likes of figures like Leonard Cohen, Andy Warhol, Madonna, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, and Martin Scorcese, and provides a template for understanding where Catholicism stands today. 

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The swift elevation to the papacy of Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost—known simply as ‘Bob’ among his fellow Augustinian friars—defied pundits’ predictions even as it was met with joy by Catholics around the world. 

It’s impossible to say just how Leo XIV’s papacy will unfold, though in his early Masses and remarks the pope has already voiced strong support for the continuation of Francis’s project of synodality. Leo’s chosen name signals his commitment to the advancement of Catholic social teaching.

On this episode, Commonweal contributors Natalia Imperatori-Lee and Mollie Wilson O’Reilly and editor Dominic Preziosi reflect on Pope Leo’s first week on the chair of Peter. 

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Three theologians—Massimo Faggioli, Susan Bigelow Reynolds, and Terence Sweeney—reflect with Commonweal editors on the pope’s legacy.

More coverage of the death of Pope Francis:

Catholics listen to snippets of the Bible read every Sunday, but how many of them actually sit with and ponder the text? 

It’s long been a truism that Catholics don’t actually read the Bible — at least not as much or in the same way as their Protestant brethren.

But that doesn’t mean Catholics don’t encounter it, whether in books, films, plays, or popular culture. 

On this episode, Fordham theology professor and frequent Commonweal contributor Michael Peppard, author of the new book How Catholics Encounter the Bible,  joins editor Dominic Preziosi to discuss how, paradoxically, the Bible shapes Catholic lives—just usually not in the shape of a book. 

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What should great fiction do for us?

That’s the question asked by Edwin Frank, editorial director of New York Review Books and author of Stranger than Fiction: Lives of the Twentieth-Century Novel. 

Good books—and there were many written during the past hundred years—can entertain, just as they can give us pleasure. But great ones have the ‘power to breach,’ that is, to upset and provoke us, shattering our illusions about the world. 

On this episode, Frank speaks with Commonweal contributor and literary critic Tony Domestic about authors like Dostoevsy, Proust, and Virginia Woolf, among others.

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In his first month back in office, Donald Trump has made cruelty toward migrants and refugees central to his agenda, while J. D. Vance has used his flawed understanding of Catholic social teaching to justify the administration’s plans for mass deportation. 

Their actions and remarks have alarmed many in the Church. On this episode, three guests tell us how and why.

Massimo Faggioli, Commonweal contributor and Villanova University professor addresses the challenges for Catholicism in the second Trump era. 

Kerry Robinson, the head of Catholic Charities USA, explains the vital work of her organization and who will be most harmed by the freezes in federal funding. 

And Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago speaks about why “the protection and advocacy for the dignity of migrants” is the Church’s new “preeminent urgency.”

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Fights over federal spending usually follow a predictable pattern, with Republicans attempting to cut entitlement programs as Democrats seek to expand the social safety net. 

One thing that’s rarely threatened, though, is Social Security, a testament to the political clout of “older people”—formerly known as “senior citizens” in America.

How did things get that way? 

On this episode, historian James Chappel speaks about his recent book Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age, which details the creation of Social Security as it criticizes the failure of the political left to make its benefits more broadly available. 

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For as long as humans beings have existed, we have had a knack for forgetting—not only when memory proves difficult, but when it becomes inconvenient. 

We need only look at Donald Trump’s pardoning of the January 6 “hostages” for the latest, most egregious example. 

Why do humans long to forget? Why do we hide the truth from ourselves? What is the function of memory in democratic societies? 

On this episode, senior editor Matt Boudway speaks with Mark Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University and author of the new book Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting not to Know.

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