Read David's thread. Bottom line: there are nihilists hiding among liberals.
davidrlurie@davidrlurie.com · 2w ago"I still believe in a place called Hope." Bill Clinton "I believe that there’s a power in hope...." Morris Katz
David Gibson
@gibsonwrites.bsky.social
Director of Fordham University's Center on Religion & Culture. "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto." Recovering Vaticanista. Occasionally commit journalism. https://linktr.ee/gibsonwrites
davidrlurie@davidrlurie.com · 2w ago
Yes, this---> I’m Native American. Land Acknowledgments Are Infuriating. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/o...
Opinion | I’m Native American. Land Acknowledgments Are Infuriating.
Conservatives who critique land acknowledgments aren’t acting in good faith, but they do have a point.
nytimes.com
Folks. As much as I agree Netanyahu should face justice, arresting him when he arrives for UNGA would be patently illegal, and would end international norms that have facilitated diplomacy for hundreds of years. Also, we don’t recognize the ICC and couldn’t turn him over if we did arrest him.
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 3w agoMayor Zohran Mamdani said in an interview with The New York Times that his administration was still discussing whether to arrest the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, if he comes to New York City as expected for the U.N. General Assembly in September.
Thank you! Great essay. I loved your discussion of Woolf.
“Entirely aware of their own standing in the shadow, and yet alive to every tremor and gleam of existence, there they endure, and it is to the Greeks that we turn when we are sick of the vagueness, of the confusion, of the Christianity and its consolations, of our own age” – Virginia Woolf.
Fordham Center on Religion and Culture @fordhamcrc.bsky.social · 3w agoVirginia Woolf may not be around to see Christopher Nolan's adaptation of The #Odyssey, but her work serves as a helpful guide to make sense of the discourse (and drama) surrounding the upcoming film. Read more from @oliviapoust.bsky.social.
Pope Leo is facing a--SCHISM! In @nytopinion.nytimes.com today I explore why this week's [very glamorous] defection by Latin Mass Trads is both far less than they claim and also much wider, and more perilous, than a dispute over liturgical arcana ... www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/o...
Opinion | Pope Leo Faces the First Crisis of His Pontificate
nytimes.com
excellent episode of @weratedogs.com dogcast this week featuring extended interview with @blairbraverman.bsky.social who once again communicates beautifully what it's like to experience life on the runners and with sleddogs in your life and heart. put it in your eyes and ears #uglydogs
Saying Goodbye to the Dogs That Saved Her Life
YouTube video by WeRateDogs
youtube.com
The United States government is occupied by an ignorant, bigoted, anti-American ideology of white nationalism. It will need to be scoured.
Dan Lamothe@danlamothe.bsky.social · 2mo agoHegseth at Normandy: "Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not."
More justification for my emerging localist identity. Beautifully done, poignant story: "The last glove makers of Naples" A historic family business is fighting against global manufacturing . . . and smartphones www.ft.com/content/1b8e...
The last glove makers of Naples
A historic family business is fighting against global manufacturing . . . and smartphones
ft.com
Michael Fanone on the papal encyclical Magnifica Humanitas: "What Leo XIV put out yesterday isn’t a sermon. It’s a diagnosis of something this country is actively failing at right now." BAM: Paging all Demcorats who care about winning. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayx_...
🚨TRUMP'S AMERICA: My Grandfather Escaped Fascism For THIS?!
YouTube video by The Michael Fanone Show
youtube.com
BREAKING: The Trapp Family has withdrawn from Donald Trump's Freedom 250 concert, citing previous unpleasant experiences with fascists.
Mamdani: "Govt efficiency — these are words that somehow have been understood as if they are R priorities, when in fact they're priorities of anyone who believes in the public sector. Any yet, Elon Musk used it to cut as many jobs that were as critical as possible for so many of the neediest people"
"We’re in a different era. And Leo is the common denominator. Not the lowest common denominator — the highest, who speaks about our humanity and dignity and creativity."
David Gibson@gibsonwrites.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe Hollywood Reporter is a terrific outlet for religion writing you can really enjoy -- thanks to Steven Zeitchik for the interview: www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general...
The Hollywood Reporter is a terrific outlet for religion writing you can really enjoy -- thanks to Steven Zeitchik for the interview: www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general...
Vatican Expert on AI: “I Wouldn’t Have Had Matthew McConaughey and the Pope on the Same Bingo Card.”
Hollywood creatives and the Pontiff are suddenly and surprisingly aligned on the matter of artificial intelligence. David Gibson says it could move the needle.
hollywoodreporter.com
An excerpt from Pope Leo XIV's encyclical this morning. The full text can be read here: www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
![The principle of social justice
77. For the Christian community, social justice is a concrete way of following Jesus and remaining faithful to the Gospel. In the New Testament, Jesus proclaims the “good news to the poor” ( Lk 4:18) and identifies himself with the lowly, the sick, the imprisoned and strangers (cf. Mt 25:31-46). He thus teaches us that justice is born from, and fulfilled in, fraternity, because the way we approach and relate to the least among us becomes, in concrete terms, the measure of our relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters. Justice, however, concerns not only the behavior of individuals, but also the way in which the structures of society are conceived and organized. In this regard, the Second Vatican Council reminds us that every institution is called to serve the human person and his or her dignity. [105] Social justice is, therefore, characterized by the capacity of a social, economic and political order to allow everyone — particularly the weakest — to live a truly dignified life, without leaving anyone behind.
78. The recent Magisterium has insisted that social justice begins with the least among us. Saint John Paul II spoke of a preferential option for the poor [106] that must guide both personal and societal choices, while Pope Francis denounced a “‘throw away’ culture” [107] that generates ever new forms of exclusion. From this perspective, social justice requires us to look at individuals and communities, starting with the most vulnerable: the poor, migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons, victims of violence and people living in urban or existential peripheries.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreihlkfccr3kyev3tmrw4ghr3ze53orhuxoihjlo6xch2b7uxwkrupm)
![79. The idea of “social justice” helps us recognize that injustices do not arise solely from the wrong choices of individuals, but also from structures, mechanisms and economic and cultural systems that produce inequality almost automatically. Saint John Paul II spoke in this vein of structures of sin [108] that oppose God’s will and require a commitment to personal and social conversion. In this perspective, justice is not merely about the fairer distribution of resources or the correction of current injustices, but also assumes a restorative dimension. It aims to mend broken bonds and reintegrate those who have been excluded, taking into account the wounds caused by injustices, such as wars, colonialism, racial or gender discrimination, violence against entire peoples and exploitation. This may include restoring dignity and a voice to those who have been ignored, fostering processes of healing for collective memory, opposing discriminatory laws and practices, and providing concrete support to those who still bear the consequences of wrongs suffered in the past.
80. In this day and age, social justice must also grapple with the environment shaped by digital technologies. The spread of global networks, platforms and artificial intelligence systems is changing the way we obtain information, communicate and access services. Justice demands that we prevent the emergence of new forms of exclusion and deprivation of freedoms: individuals and peoples hindered or denied access to basic technologies, communities exposed to invasive surveillance and social groups penalized by opaque algorithms that perpetuate prejudice and discrimination.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreigfjmil46blytffp3wlsgxse75h4mxwfrztmqx5yc6tgyersmejcm)
![In the digital age, a just social order guarantees everyone equal access to opportunities, protects the youngest and weakest members of society, combats hate and misinformation and subjects the use of data and technology to public oversight, so that the guiding principle is not solely profit but the dignity of every person and the common good of all people.
81. A litmus test for social justice today is the treatment of migrants, refugees and those forced to move due to poverty, violence, climate change and environmental disasters. The way a society treats them reveals whether its sense of justice is driven by fear or by the spirit of fraternity. Pope Francis urged us to see migrants not simply as a problem to be managed, but as a living image of the People of God on the move. [109] They are people with dignity, resources and dreams, who have the right to be treated with respect and to ask to become active members of the societies that welcome them. Social justice in this area entails at least two complementary commitments. On the one hand, this means protecting the rightful hopes of those forced to leave by ensuring safe and legal routes, dignified conditions for receiving them, and genuine pathways to integration. On the other hand, it means promoting the right to remain in one’s homeland in peace and security by addressing the root causes that force people to migrate, including those linked to economic injustices and the climate crisis. When these rights are respected, migration can become an opportunity for encounter and mutual enrichment among peoples.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreihvazke3zwpobko64c5gmw2pmrhtltn6hexdp6q7pu3fw4tlgf7le)
A capitalist take (from this Wharton grad) on "Magnifica Humanitas." Pope Leo XIV’s superb new encyclical is the most cogent Catholic critique of capitalism that I have ever read. www.americamagazine.org/faith-and-re...
A capitalist (priest) reads ‘Magnifica Humanitas’
Pope Leo XIV’s superb new encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” is the most cogent Catholic critique of capitalism that I have ever read.
americamagazine.org
THIS --->
The Editorial Board@editorialboard.bsky.social · 2mo ago@nytpitchbot.bsky.social asked why the press is pro-Trump. Answer: it's easier, Trump is exhausting. True, but the press is anti-moral. That's why most journos don't mind being on Twitter but dislike Bluesky. They can't function is an explicitly moral context. Cf this piece by @booman23.bsky.social.
I outline the Catholic Church's "sexual devolution" in an @nytopinion.nytimes.com essay today: Pope Leo's encyclical on A.I. (et al) signals an epochal return to the traditional moral hierarchy that places justice ahead of the fixation on "pelvic theology": www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/o...
Opinion | Pope Leo Chooses Social Justice Over Pelvic Theology
nytimes.com
Rep. Maria Salazar: "It's in the hands of two entities. God the Father, and Donald Trump. The Lord saved him. The Lord wanted him back in the Oval Office."
On this first anniversary of the election of Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, the outro of my essay for the Journal of American Catholic Studies last Fall: "The question that Leo's election ought to prompt is not how American he is, but how American we are."
A 19th century "phantom" heresy under Pope Leo XIII becomes a real one in the 21st century under Pope Leo XIV. Me in @commonwealmagazine.org on the new Americanism:
Commonweal@commonwealmagazine.org · 3mo agoThe clashes between Leo and the Trump administration underscore how U.S. Catholics have come to behave as though they are religious authorities unto themselves. @gibsonwrites.bsky.social: 'Leo vs. the Americanists'
@gibsonwrites.bsky.social takes aim at the "MAGA, si. Magistra, no!" version of Catholicism in @commonwealmagazine.org . Good read! www.commonwealmagazine.org/leo-gibson-d...
Leo vs. the Americanists
The clashes between Leo and the Trump administration underscore how U.S. Catholics have come to behave as though they are religious authorities unto themselves.
commonwealmagazine.org
A 19th century "phantom" heresy under Pope Leo XIII becomes a real one in the 21st century under Pope Leo XIV. Me in @commonwealmagazine.org on the new Americanism:
Commonweal@commonwealmagazine.org · 3mo agoThe clashes between Leo and the Trump administration underscore how U.S. Catholics have come to behave as though they are religious authorities unto themselves. @gibsonwrites.bsky.social: 'Leo vs. the Americanists'
Ask me about the Center for American Progress killing ThinkProgress as an independent news arm because it (and its donors) wanted a 2020 campaign rapid response blog instead.
Olivia Messer@oliviamesser.bsky.social · 3mo agoI spend a lot of time enraged that rich progressives are too short-sighted and tightly wound to their own flawed messaging. All single races, not the long-term value of an educated public. They don’t think journalism is a good investment. @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social semafor.com/article/05/0...
This was a terrific discussion ... all the contemporary moral panics about polyamory and throuples and even celibacy actually have roots in American spirituality and religious history going back centuries:
Fordham Center on Religion and Culture @fordhamcrc.bsky.social · 3mo agoART & SOUL: Jodi Wille, curator of "Utopia: Three Centuries of Sexuality in American Cults and Communes" at the Museum of Sex in NYC and Miami, discusses the vast and fascinating history of sexuality in America's alternative spiritual communities.
Check out this wonderful conversation on Angela Manno's iconography of endangered species, and spirituality, with Sr. Elizabeth Johnson and George Demacopoulos of Fordham's Orthodox Christian Studies Center. Beautiful, powerful, inspiring -- an Earth Day (week) palate cleanse
Fordham Center on Religion and Culture @fordhamcrc.bsky.social · 4mo agoHappy #EarthDay from the CRC! Check out our conversation with Angela Manno, a New York-born iconographer renowned for her icons of endangered species painted in the style and tradition of Eastern Orthodox devotional art.
