Reuters South Africa reports that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arranged a new coalition government on Saturday, “ending weeks of political turmoil that aroused fears of economic instability in Italy.” The report also states, “Amongst the winners on Saturday was the UDC’s Rocco Buttiglione, who switches from being minister for European Affairs to the more prestigious culture minister.” Buttiglione, a member of the Acton Institute Board of Advisors, recently spoke about Pope Benedict XVI. According to the Zenit News Agency,...

Notre Dame Professor John O’Callaghan offers salutary advice: to get a sense of the new pope, we should actually read what he has written (which is a lot) rather than rely on media reports. It’s part of an insightful piece posted yesterday at the Center for Ethics and Culture blog. Long, but worth the read. ...

In an excellent survey of the writings of Cardinal Ratzinger, Michael S. Horton explores some of the implications of the election of Pope Benedict XVI for Protestantism. After providing a brief background of the relationship between Ratzinger and Pope John Paul II, Horton addresses “some of the representative statements by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, to obtain a better idea of what we might expect from his pontificate. Hopefully we will see that there is much to appreciate in an age of...

According to yesterday’s Independent, “In the first modification of its kind, Japanese researchers have inserted a gene from the human liver into rice to enable it to digest pesticides and industrial chemicals.” When I wrote up a theological framework for evaluating GM foods, I wasn’t considering the use of human genes. This plicates matters. It sounds like something from the Twilight Zone. ...

Those of you who are familiar with the Journal of Markets & Morality, the peer-reviewed academic publication of the Acton Institute, may have noticed the transition of the journal over the last year to restricted subscriber-only access to current issues. The decision to restrict access with a “moving wall” of the two most recent issues was made following a study I did, in my capacity as associate editor of the journal, about the current landscape of scholarly publishing. This study...

An excerpt from a mencement address by Mark Helprin, “Defend Civilization Itself,” delivered at Hillsdale College on May 24, 2002: I ask you to join this brotherhood, and, in your own way, whatever that may be, to defend and champion the sanctity of the individual, free and objective inquiry, government by consent of the governed, freedom of conscience, and the pursuit — rather than the degradation and denial — of truth and of beauty. I ask you to defend a...

The big box giant Wal-Mart is under attack again, this time by a coalition of varied opponents. The group, named “Wal-Mart Watch,” took out an ad in The New York Times last Wednesday, accusing the retailer “of low pay and meager employee benefits that force their workers to rely on Medicaid, food stamps, and federal housing to survive,”. The Sierra Club, which has long opposed urban sprawl, is one of the groups involved with Wal-Mart Watch. This ad campaign is...

Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, who is head of the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Institutions, has offered some very encouraging words on the prospect for improving relations between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches — a relationship that must be revisited with a sense of urgency. In mentary titled Habemus Papam!, Hilarion looked forward to a “breakthrough” in relations between Rome and Moscow, and called for a meeting between Benedict XVI and Alexy...

In a special edition of Acton Commentary from Rome, Rev. Robert Sirico writes that “insofar as the new papacy has implications for economics and politics, it is in the direction of a humane and unifying liberalism. I speak not of liberalism as we know it now, which is bound up with state management and democratic relativism, but liberalism of an older variety that placed it hopes in society, faith, and freedom.” Read the full text here. ...

Investigative reporter Steve Wilson has been under attack from public officials in both Detroit and the suburb of Warren, Michigan. And now, a group of Detroit pastors is calling for his termination, according to the Detroit Free Press. “Whereas Warren officials accused Wilson of mischaracterizing a trip to Costa Rica, more than two dozen pastors said their ire peaked when they heard that the muckraker had, in their words, harassed Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on a Friday flight home from...