Clearly, we are facing a disheartening situation here in Italy, where I study at one of Rome’s pontifical universities. It seems that every day brings more bad news, more regulations, and more uncertainty. Public health resources and state coffers are also stretched rail thin. As Italy’s public funds have been rapidly depleting, the gap certainly needs to be filled and filled quickly. In the face of this massive financial challenge, and despite the constant demonizing of the richest 1% “who...

Given the dramatic disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, many are reflecting on ways to better love and serve our neighbors during times of crisis. While disciplined social distancing is the obvious first step, we also see a number of ground-up efforts to mobilize congregations and institutions to support the evolving needs of individuals munities. For example, the largest church in Birmingham, Alabama—the Church of the Highlands—has coordinated with the governor and a local laboratory to host and facilitate drive-through coronavirus...

However unique their history or munities experiencing high unemployment are pockmarked by the same sights: shuttered factories, rows of abandoned homes bulldozed or set ablaze by arsonists, and a debilitating hopelessness. After sifting through the wreckage of jobless cities and shattered lives for his new documentary,America Lost filmmaker Christopher F. Rufo found a crisis of faith and work. Rufo spent three years following the lives of people struggling to get by in three munities: Youngstown, Ohio; Memphis, Tennessee; and Stockton,...

The most ubiquitous phrase popularized by the coronavirus epidemic, “social distancing,” carries connotations of shunning or anti-social behavior. The isolation of the elderly particularly tugs at our heartstrings. The widely shared photo of 88-year-old Dorothy Campbell speaking through a nursing home’s window to her 89-year-old husband, Gene, poignantly depicts the deep-seated need for human contact amid the obstructions of anti-virus protocols. But distancing in a time of global pandemics preserves life. As such, it should be seen as a form...

In exploring the intersection of Christianity and economics, we routinely see several e into play, particularly between notions of generosity and personal profit. The key question is: How do we reconcile our calling to be both a selfless servant and a maker and multiplier? In a new talk from the Economic Wisdom Project’s latest Karam Forum, Greg Forster encourages us to find the answer in the particular paradox of the Christian life. Drawing from Mathetes’ ancient Letter to Diognetus, Forster...

With COVID-19 ushering in a new era of social distancing, the idea of a mass demonstration seems as quaint as a delivery from the milkman. However, as recently as last month the memory of France’s gilet jaunes—the yellow-vested protesters who blocked French intersections over proposed fuel taxes—inspired Spanish farmers to block streets and wring ill-conceived concessions from the government. Spanish farmers believed producers should receive the lion’s share of the final sales cost. This echoes the Marxist “labor theory of...

Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has invited people around the world to take a sober approach to life and social relations. But it has also spread a potentially worse contagion throughout society: panic. At the Acton Institute’sReligion & Liberty Transatlantic website, James Agresti dispenses the cold facts about COVID-19. Every article written by Agresti, the president ofJust Facts,provides verifiable, documented data without political spin. This article is no exception. At the end of the article, Agresti notes the economic dangers the virus...

As the COVID-19 pandemic affects more and more people across the globe, there are many duties that e plain to us as munities, and citizens. Many workplaces have innovated in response to these challenges, and churches have looked to the past for inspiration to bring hope to our present. Individuals have taken precautions, and government has stepped in bat panic. There’s a lot to take in, and in this crisis, we learn about one of life’s great mysteries: how people...

Earlier this week, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued a “stay at home” order in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. As a result, many people have taken on new responsibilities and challenges in addition to their existing duties. For those working in what have been deemed “essential businesses,” this has meant additional professional requirements. For those working in jobs deemed “non-essential,” employers and employees have either had to transform the nature of their work creatively or reduce—and in...

This morning Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s managing director, international, wrote in Forbes about Latin American countries’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus there hasn’t reached the levels we see in China or Europe or even the U.S., but there are serious concerns about preparedness for future developments, especially regarding Brazil and Mexico, the region’s two largest countries in both population and economic strength. Populist leaders Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico have often seemed flippant...