Former Attorney General Bill Barr: U.S Military Action Against Iran Meets Criteria for ‘Just War

 

Former Attorney General Bill Barr: U.S Military Action Against Iran Meets Criteria for ‘Just War’

Pope Leo XIV and U.S. bishops have said the war fails just‑war criteria, warning it lacks proportionality, last resort, and a clear moral end.

Madalaine Elhabbal/EWTN News Nation April 24, 2026

Soline Humbert felt called to ordination. This Irish priest paid a price for supporting her.

 

Soline Humbert felt called to ordination. This Irish priest paid a price for supporting her.

News

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  Sarah Mac Donald

MAGA split isn't Catholic vs. Protestant: It's a struggle for the church's soul

 

Guest Voices

Opinion

MAGA split isn't Catholic vs. Protestant: It's a struggle for the church's soul

Rebecca Bratten Weiss  ncr

Podcast: 'War is not itself until it is total war,' Daniel Berrigan wrote

 

April 27, 2026

Podcast: 'War is not itself until it is total war,' Daniel Berrigan wrote

John Dear  ncr

 

The Politics of Mercy

“Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

Mariann Budde

Mar 09, 2026

In the intense, partisan, polarized climate of our society, many people of faith are persuaded that topics deemed “political” are best avoided. It’s an understandable impulse, yet such avoidance only plays into the hands of those who benefit from our withdrawal from public discourse. In such times, we do well to remember the richer and more accurate understanding of politics: our collective moral and civic responsibility for tending to our common life for the common good.

EWTN'S PAPAL POSSE VS POPE LEO ON IRAN WAR

 

EWTN'S PAPAL POSSE VS POPE LEO ON IRAN WAR  Consistent with his duty to give witness to God’s justice and love for the human family, Pope Leo — together with some of his leading supporters — has spoken out against these grave threats to human dignity and the common good. Some of the most prominent American Catholic conservatives,however, are now beginning to push back. READ MORE...

For priests, ‘smelling like the sheep’ is not optional

For priests, ‘smelling like the sheep’ is not optional

by William I. Orbih April 24, 2026

Shepherd Jesus Christ taking care of the lamb and a flock of sheep on the meadow with a brightly rising sunrise landscape. Credit: iStock

Nothing captured Pope Francis’ vision for ordained ministry better than his invitation to priests to “be shepherds with the odor of the sheep.” First expressed in his homily at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday in 2013, the vivid image was used by the late pope to challenge clericalism, which he often described as a serious disease. Recently, reading Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic letter “Una Fedelta,” issued in 2025 on the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s decrees “Optatum Totius” and “Presbyterorum Ordinis,” led me to a deeper insight into what it means to smell like the sheep. 

 

In Praise of a Political Church

GOP attacks on Pope Leo misunderstand the social demands of the Gospel.

Heidi Schlumpf

April 22, 2026

Pope Leo XIV

R

Please email comments to letters@commonwealmagazine.org.

A joint interview between CBS’s Norah O’Donnell and Cardinals Joseph Tobin, Robert McElroy, and Blase J. Cupich (OSV News screenshot/Facebook)

In the war of words between Pope Leo and President Donald Trump last week, the two U.S.-born world leaders seemed to agree on only one thing: that the pope is not a politician. In the rambling Truth Social post that started the ruckus, Trump accused Leo of supporting crime, a nuclear Iran, and Venezuelan drug dealers, while also taking credit for the pope’s election and getting in a dig that he prefers Leo’s MAGA brother. But he concluded the rant by advising Leo to “get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”