• We all gathered in the editor’s office when the white smoke appeared, setting his computer to the NBC website, otherwise known as the network on which George Weigel appears. As we waited, and it seemed to take forever, one junior fellow stood, the other per

• This will be, we should warn you, a Catholic-heavy “While We’re At It.” But then popes don’t resign every day. • First, a word from New York. A friend who works in a New York City agency tells us that its employees have been told not to call anyone “home

• In second place but way behind the leader in a 3000-meter race, Iván Fernández Anaya pulled up when he realized his opponent had stopped before the finish line, thinking he’d won the race. He then, reports the newspaper El País, “stayed behind and, using ge

David Mills is executive editor of First Things and the author of Discovering Mary: Answers to Questions About the Mother of God.

David Mills is the executive editor of First Things.

David Mills really ought to confine his perverted remarks about cats to whatever low quarters he frequents outside the First Things, 35  editorial offices. It is certainly true that those who know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob do not actually worship th

“Transhumanism is a philosophical doctrine that aims to continuously improve humanity,” says new Italian MP Giuseppe Vatinno, interviewed in New Scientist. “Ultimately, it aims to free humanity from its biological limitations, overcoming natural evolution to

• “Look for a building with a cross on it,” people escaping North Korea for China are told, because Christians are more likely than anyone else to help them escape the Chinese police. The police, reports Melanie Kirkpatrick, a senior fellow at the Hudson Inst

• We all have a romantic image of monks patiently copying texts in their scriptoria, with the more artistic illuminating the manuscripts. But really, it must have been very tedious work, and it’s no surprise that monks wrote comments in the margins. They comp

• “Over the years, I saw a conversion in Chuck to elements of natural law theory,” writes Fr. Thomas Guarino of our friend Chuck Colson, who died in April and is much missed. At one Evangelicals and Catholics Together meeting, writes Tom, the Catholic co-ch

David Mills is the executive editor of First Things and a member of Evangelicals and Catholics Together. RESOURCES Carl Olson’s Shaking, Not Stirring Russell Shaw’s What Cardinal Martini Said, and What He Didn’t Say David Mills’s No Mere Christianity The

David Mills is Executive Editor of First Things and the author of Discovering Mary: Answers to Questions About the Mother of God. His previous “On the Square” articles can be found here. RESOURCES St. John Cassian on anger from his Institutes. Become a fa

David Mills is Executive Editor of First Things and the author of Discovering Mary: Answers to Questions About the Mother of God. His previous “On the Square” articles can be found here. Fall Web Campaign: Please donate to support the online mission of Firs

David Mills is Executive Editor of First Things. His previous “On the Square” articles can be found here. RESOURCES The New York Times' story on the Commission's work, Panel Hears Grim Details of Venereal Disease Tests The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's repo

David Mills is Executive Editor of First Things. His previous “On the Square” articles can be found here. Become a fan of First Things on Facebook, subscribe to First Things via RSS, and follow First Things on Twitter.

David Mills is the Executive Editor of First Things. Discovering Jesus. His previous "On the Square" articles can be found here. RESOURCES Pope Pius XII’s apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus David Mills, Delivered From All Stain Become a fan of F

David Mills is Executive Editor of First Things. His previous “On the Square” articles can be found here. RESOURCES: Joshua Green’s Michele Bachman’s Church Says the Pope is the Antichrist. The WELS Statement on the Antichrist. The Catechism of the Cathol

David Mills is Executive Editor of First Things. His previous “On the Square” articles can be found here. Material in this column is taken from a blog he wrote some years ago. RESOURCES Alex Kucynski’s She’s Got to Be a Macho Girl from The New York Times.

David Mills is Executive Editor of First Things. His previous “On the Square” articles can be found here. RESOURCES Darryl Hart’s Taking Every Cat Captive.  

David Mills is Executive Editor of First Things. His previous “On the Square” articles can be found here. This column was adapted from an item he wrote last year for the magazine’s weblog “First Thoughts.” RESOURCES Robert Louis Wilken’s Keeping the Comma