The global rise of right-wing authoritarian populism poses a challenge to the Catholic
theology of conscience. For decades, the church has emphasized the connection of
conscience to absolute values in the face of political confrontation with Marxism and
its inchoate totalitarian democratic descendants. But today’s right-wing authoritarian
populist regimes raise different questions: about conscience and relationship,
conscientious objection, and the relationship of the freedom of the church and
freedom of conscience. This article reviews recent literature about this challenge.

The idea of American exceptionalism has been present through much of American
history. But the idea is often abstracted: The character and purpose of the United
States are rendered as timeless and glorified attributes apart from the sinfulness
and limits of history. In this response to Thomas Massaro’s essay, I examine the
historicized nature of the idea in both a spirit of criticism and construction. If Catholic
social ethics is to contribute to a renewal of the idea of American exceptionalism, it
must do so in an historicized and contextual key.

Reviewing the literature on conscience, Catholicism, and politics, especially from the last ten years, the author argues that there are two views of conscience emerging: the ecclesial view and the personalist view. The author also discusses the significance of historical context for the development of theological thought about conscience in relation to politics.

The Danish cartoon controversy was extremely problematic for Muslims. But the publication of the cartoons also raised profound normative questions about speech for the Catholic Church as well. This article addresses the cartoon controversy in light of the Catholic social teaching’s tradition on speech. In particular, the article addresses the issues of offensive speech; the