During a time of political polarization, writes Matt Malone S.J., it is more often the serious business of governing that is a distraction—from the partisan combat that has become our all-consuming pastime.

Death rates from the coronavirus have been highest in low-income areas, writes Robert David Sullivan. And according to one measure of economic inequality, the U.S. more closely resembles Latin America and Africa than Europe.

From bleeding sunsets in Texas to golden wheatfields in Oklahoma to the rolling plains of western Nebraska, Marie Mutsuki Mockett’s new book documents every stop in the wheat harvesters’ odyssey with striking lyricism and intricate detail.

For a solution, it is best to experience how Beethoven’s works sound.

We can no longer tolerate the serious problems that result from a broken and fragmented health care financing system.

In “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis called drinkable water a human right. But as Nathan Beacom writes, our methods of farming and raising livestock are degrading our soil and polluting our waterways.

The ethical problem with talking about ‘expected life years’

Did the old “normal” way of doing things exhaust all possibilities for communal celebration? Is that what we want to return to, even if doing so were possible?

Though Augustine might have a reputation for pessimism, Kathleen Bonnette writes, his spirituality and his actions during the siege of Hippo can offer guidance for responding to the Covid-19 crisis.

For the first time in over two months, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem reopens, despite the uncertainty some people still have about the effects of the pandemic on public health and the local economy.

Bishop Thomas R. Zinkula of Davenport, Iowa has called for the release of three Guatemalan immigrant detainees as the pandemic places them in "a very vulnerable situation."

Following the apostolic visitation of a northern Italian ecumenical monastery, the Vatican has ordered the founder and former prior, Enzo Bianchi, to leave it so as to "clarify" the leadership of the community.

The video of a Minneapolis police office pressing his knee on the neck of a handcuffed African American man has elicited expressions of shock, outrage, and pain throughout the country, including from the religious community.

The once-unthinkable toll appears to be just the beginning of untold misery in the months ahead as Las Vegas casinos and Walt Disney World make plans to reopen, crowds of unmasked Americans swarm beaches and public health officials predict a resurgence by fall.

In his own divine depth, the Holy Spirit remains an utter mystery, but we have nonetheless felt his true touch.

The Catholic bishops of Washington state, in a public statement, said that observance of the pandemic protocols in the suspension of Masses was done not out of fear but "out of our deepest respect for human life and health."

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles has announced plans for the reopening of churches within his archdiocese by the first week of June, provided safety protocols are observed.

An FX documentary on Norma McCovey, the "Jane Roe" of the controversial 1973 Supreme Court decision, reveals that she wasn't the pro-life activist she claimed to be and that she was allegedly manipulated by people within the pro-life movement.

Their isolation can be a positive—in this case it has kept the coronavirus at bay—“but they can’t count on government health care services and have to deal with a deep racism.”