As the years of his pontificate mount up, so do the books devoted to this singular pope, with the promise of some good things still in store, notably the forthcoming biography by George Weigel. From many angles, one has sought to fathom John Paul II’s secret, or perhaps to glimpse his distinctive gifts at work, a contemplative actor surely but patiently shifting the tumblers of the vault of history. There are already several biographies to choose from, numerous collections of papal writings and speeches, clever analyses grinding any number of axes, and (for the intrepid) a cloudy and somewhat misleading translation of his Polish phenomenological studies.

The present volume is not another book about Pope John Paul II; rather, as the English translators’ title rightly suggests, it is about...

The main purpose of economics is to understand and to help alleviate poverty, and there is an intimate and transparent relation between investments in human capital and the alleviation of poverty. That is the theme of my presentation.

The term human capital may not be familiar to all of you. Human capital refers to the skills, education, health, and training of individuals. It is capital because these skills or education are an integral part of us that is long-lasting, in the way a machine, plant, or factory lasts.

Prior to the nineteenth century, systematic investment in human capital was not important in any country. Expenditures on schooling, on-the-job training, and other forms of investment were quite small. This began to change radically during that century...

Commentators are still trying to understand just what Pope John Paul II was up to in visiting Cuba. Surely, many muse, the most skillful geopolitical strategist to ever preside in the papal suites must have had a secret political agenda. Is he trying to do for Cuba what he did for Poland? Or, as several dispatches have suggested, does he feel an ideological attachment to Fidel Castro’s anticapitalist economics?

Both assessments are wrong, as is clear from the remarkable events that took place in Cuba the week of the papal visit. The point of his visit was illustrated to me by a local underground entrepreneur who is a very poor father of two. He pointed out that the first time he had seen Mr. Castro in a business suit was that week. He interpreted this as a sign of deference and a reminder that...

Il 1997 è stato il bicentenario della nascita del prete teologo, riformatore politico, nonché filosofo italiano, Antonio Rosmini. Durante un’epoca segnata da un fermento di protesta che minava l’establishment, Rosmini dedicò la sua intera vita a riconciliare l’insegnamento della Chiesa romano-cattolica con il pensiero filosofico e politico moderno. Egli cercò di armonizzare le vecchie idee con le nuove mostrando come ogni sviluppo effettivo fondi la propria crescita sulla base di principi immutabili. Tuttavia il suo audace progetto lo rese una figura controversa sia all’interno della Chiesa che all’esterno.

Rosmini poneva fermamente alla base della legge e della politica la dignità della persona umana. Secondo il suo pensiero, la libertà e la proprietà privata...

The American Roman Catholic is a curious animal, forever trying to modify the docile, traditional, receptive spirit of the Catholic by the independent, innovative, frontier mentality of the American. Results of his endeavor vary from the impressive and influential to the disedifying and disastrous. His task is never-ending simply because it is impossible: “American” cannot modify “Catholic.”

In the aptly named American Catholic, Charles Morris seeks to give the definitive history of this creature. From the start, he acknowledges the inherent tension between a church anchored in dogma and tradition and a culture based on innovation and individualism. The Catholic Church and the United States have had quite a past, and Morris provides a captivating account of their stormy relationship....

R&L: You have often described yourself as an arch-liberal. The word liberalism has very different meanings in the United States and Europe. Could you explain the differences of those understandings of this term?

Kuehnelt-Leddihn: The term liberal in its political connotation we owe to Spain, the nation that always valued freedom most highly if not excessively, and therefore also produced a great many anarchists in the last one hundred fifty years. Resisting the Napoleonic invasion, Spain proclaimed in the liberated south, in Cadiz, a liberal constitution whose supporters were called los liberales. (They denounced their opponents as los serviles.) In 1816 Southey used the expression liberal for the first time in England but still in its...

From the historical beginnings of the Christian movement, there has been an understanding that the governing authorities of the world are under the providence of God. According to Saint Paul, government serves a valuable and divinely ordained purpose until the Parousia, when the return of Christ will fully inaugurate the new creation. Government, Paul declares, is “instituted by God” and is “God’s servant for your good.” Its fundamental function is to provide law and order and punish wrongdoers: “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.” Thus Christians are conscience-bound to honor governmental authority and be law-abiding citizens (Rom. 13:1—7). At the same time, it is implied that government is accountable to God and is to serve the common good. Perhaps Paul’s views here in Romans...