Democratic Party’s most “ugly” memory is found in its 19th century pro-slavery, agrarian political agenda, not to mention its “Manifest Destiny” ambition which prompted the mass mistreatment of Native Americans. It was 19th century Republicans, not Democrats who ultimately defended black lives

An iconoclastic anti-racist fury has erupted and not just across the whole of the United States. It is now global. In England, monuments of Churchill and Gandhi have been vandalised. In America, images of Christopher Columbus continue to draw angry sentiments while the Hollywood classic “Gone with the Wind” has been removed from HBO Max. In Italy, "morelli" (little blacks) dark chocolate sweets are disappearing from shelves while the Indro Montanelli statue faces removal. But why?

For the “white man” to do the right thing when it comes to the rights of Africans is becoming increasingly difficult. Nancy Pelosi and other American Democrats wore the kente stole (West African tradition and symbol of African-American resurgence) as a tribute to the death of George Floyd. The Africans were outraged.

Franz Jägerstätter, beatified in 2007, knowing that Nazism was incompatible with Catholicism, refused the oath to the Führer, government allowances for his family, and compensation from the state. His popularity with his neighbors in his village changed into hostility against him; everyone turned against him, even his parish priest and his bishop. He had only the Bible and his wife to support him, even though she knew that the farm would fall apart and that she and their daughters would be branded forever as the family of a traitor.

Joseph Ratzinger, many years ago, warned us against the “false infinities” that might mis-lead us as to the nature of existence. Coronavirus lockdown has brought us to a moment when, many of our “little infinities” withdrawn, we get to face the horizon with an enhanced chance of seeing that all joys, small and great, come from the same place. Temporarily deprived of so many of our “little infinities,” perhaps we will see that these transient joys are just stepping stones on the road to lasting joys.

A new study by the British newspaper The Guardian reveals the true story that inspired Golding's famous novel The Lord of the Flies. It retraces Golding’s thesis of a violent and brutal human man that can only be prevented from emerging by civilisation. Yet, on closer inspection, it can be said that Golding was not wrong: he merely portrayed a society without the Catholic Church, founded by Christ.

Sin can make the face of God be hidden, which He shows to us in the Sacraments. We think of the many social injustices, the sacrilegious Communions, the many people who skip Sunday Mass for the sake of work or entertainment, sexual deviations, abortion, euthanasia, doctrinal laxity, the absolutions of non-repentant sinners, liturgical abuses. Probably God has said: “Enough!” All this has also involved innocent people, but not by chance...

May 1 in Europe, and many other nations, is Labor Day. Actually, it isn’t. Catholics and Christians have christened this soviet-inspired International Workers Day on their calendar of saints with the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. This is a much better way to celebrate the first day of this spring month recalling the modest, hardworking, and dependable foster father of Jesus.

War veteran Tom Moore turns 100 today, and the United Kingdom is paying him homage with nation-wide celebrations. The images of him, almost centenarian, walking 2.5 km around his back garden bent over a walker to collect money to fight Covid-19 travelled the world. His original goal was to raise a thousand pounds, instead collected 30 million. It’s a phenomenon that can only be explained as a hymn to life and hope, this what Captain Tom personifies.

COVID-19 has been isolated and it has been discovered that it is so small that it is nearly invisible. And yet it has upended our existence. For five hundred years it has been claimed the only things that exist are those which our senses can perceive. Everything else is superstition. We now know we’ve been lied to and that empiricists, Enlightenment, materialists and romantics were wrong.

In the comments of politicians and commentators just as in the reaction of the people, there is the perception that the war against the coronavirus justifies the suspension of civil liberty. It is an old debate that has engaged many philosophers, but the reality is that when power takes away liberty it does not guarantee either safety or life.

A pandemic is the ideal thing that can be used to suspend democracy and civil liberties, often invoked by the same people who are presently removing them. Fictional stories of similar catastrophes teach us that this is so. Planetary emergencies are the ideal thing for those who want to have a world government of “technicians.” Everything started in China, which is a totalitarian regime.