Liberalism and the virtue of gratitude

In a new essay at Postliberal Order, I reflect on the virtue of gratitude or thanksgiving and the ways it tends to be eroded in liberal societies.

Pope Leo on immigration enforcement

Pope Leo was recently asked by a reporter about the deportation and detention of illegal immigrants.  In response, he made the following remarks:

I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have.  If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that.  There are courts, there’s a system of justice.  I think there are a lot of problems in the system.  No one has said that the United States should have open borders.  I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.  But when people are living good lives, and many of them for ten, fifteen, twenty years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful to say the least, and there has been some violence unfortunately, I think that the Bishops have been very clear in what they said and I think that I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them.

This is a refreshingly calm, reasonable, and nuanced approach.  As I have shown in earlier articles (at Public Discourse and at UnHerd), the Church has traditionally affirmed both that wealthy nations have a general obligation to welcome immigrants to the extent they are able, but also that they are not obligated to let in all who seek to enter, that they may put conditions on entry that take account of the economic needs and cultural cohesion of the receiving nation, and that immigrants must obey the law.

Searle contra deconstruction

In a new essay at Postliberal Order, I recall the late John Searle’s critique of deconstructionism and postmodernism more generally, which were major influences on today’s woke ideologies.

Remembering John Searle

I wrote an obituary for John Searle, which appears in the December 2025 issue of First Things.

Cardinal Fernández on doctrinal clarity

From Twitter/X today, apropos of Mater Populi Fidelis: