I wrote for ABC Religion & Ethics about Pope Leo’s first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and his attempt to insert the Catholic intellectual tradition into the debate on AI. Read here.

Lost in the noise of The Pope vs Trump is a genuinely fascinating theological dispute. The University asked me to provide "expert comment" on the question: what if the pope gets his theology wrong?

I wrote for ABC Religion & Ethics about how Pope Leo should reflect on whether the most durable contribution he can make to our geopolitical crisis is not to position himself as the conscience of one political tribe, but to aspire to the role of the genuinely impartial voice.

I wrote for ABC Religion & Ethics about what the pope has said about the US-Iran war and what he might say instead. Read here. I also wrote for Eureka Street about Pacificsm and the Catholic Tradition.

I reflected on the careers of Timothy Cardinal Dolan and Vincent Cardinal Nichols, the two most important English-speaking Catholics of their generation, whose retirements as archbishops were announced last week. Read it at ABC Religion & Ethics.

I wrote for ABC Religion & Ethics about how Leo XIV has succeeded as pontiff during the months since his election. Read here.

I wrote a diary column for the Catholic Herald about the thrills of chimney-watching from St Peter’s Square. Read here.

I wrote a feature piece for Canada’s Globe & Mail about the new Pope Leo XIV. An American pope: has hell frozen over?

I wrote for Eureka Street about how the 2025 papal conclave is a referendum on the Catholic Church’s future. I also wrote for the Church Times about the history of conclave secrecy and for The Catholic Herald about the likely candidates.

I wrote for Oxford University’s Expert Comment series about why His Holiness matters (even if you’re not a Catholic). Read here.

I wrote for The Catholic Herald about what happens after the pope dies. Read here.

I wrote an obituary for Pope Francis for the ABC and an op-ed for The Sydney Morning Herald which asked what qualities a pope now needs in the world of Donald Trump. I also wrote another assessment of Francis’ papacy for Canada’s Globe & Mail.

I wrote for the Catholic Herald about the questions Catholics should be asking as the pope recovers from serious illness. Read here.

I wrote for Eureka Street about what the excommunication of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò might mean for the Church.

Pope Francis has allowed confusion to spread over his precise stance on blessing gay couples. I analysed how we got here for ABC Religion & Ethics.

Pope Francis’ response to the threat of climate change in his Apostolic Exhortation “Laudate Deum” seems simple. But it may come with costs attached if it proves as divisive amongst Catholics as Francis of Assisi’s teachings did eight centuries ago. Read more in ABC Religion & Ethics.

In Mongolia, the Pope stood in reverence before a statue of Genghis Khan and later lauded his empire. I asked why the pope has such a soft spot for authoritarians and what it will mean for his moral authority. Read more in The Spectator (Australia).

Alberto Melloni, Professor of Church History at the University of Bologna, has set out a case for reforming how popes are chosen. I reflected on the conclave’s history and on Melloni’s ideas. Read more in Eureka Street.

Pope Francis is travelling to Mongolia to minister to its 1,500 Catholics. But what is at the root of his apparent fascination with all things Eastern? Read more in ABC Religion & Ethics.

Pope Francis surprised many Catholics by announcing a consistory for the creation of new cardinals. Some have already begun speculating on what these promotions might reveal about his ongoing priorities and what they might mean for any upcoming conclave. Read more at ABC Religion & Ethics.

Some believe that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s death has freed Pope Francis to advance a progressive agenda, but there is good reason to doubt that. Read more in Eureka Street.

Pope Francis weighed in once again on the Catholic Church’s seemingly interminable debate over homosexuality. Homosexuality may be a sin, he told the Associated Press, but it should not be a crime. I reflected for ABC Religion & Ethics on the history of this distinction and what that should mean for Francis’ invocation of it.

The sudden death of George Cardinal Pell shocked and saddened Catholics in Australia and around the world. Various print media asked me to provide comment including the ABC, BBC Worldwide, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, Le Monde, Agence France-Presse (AFP),The Guardian, Australian Financial Review, the Australian Associated Press (AAP), France 24, Paris Match, and The Catholic Leader. My comments were also reported in other international media including The New York Times, The Daily Mail, The Irish Times, The Church Times, and The Wire (India). I contributed op-eds to The Sydney Morning Herald, ABC Religion & Ethics, The Conversation, and Crikey.

Benedict XVI’s death will leave a huge void in the Catholic Church’s self-consciousness and historical memory. I refected on this complicated man and his difficult pontificate for the ABC (“The Pope of Paradox”, long version), for The Sydney Morning Herald (“The Pope of Paradox”, short version), and for The Spectator (Australia).

Pope Francis travelled to Canada in order to “beg forgiveness” for the abuse of Indigenous children that took place at schools run by the Catholic Church. But what will the long-term consequences of this gesture prove to be? Read more in ABC Religion & Ethics.

It’s a paradox of papal history that each pope can create as many cardinals as he likes, and yet no pope has ever been able to use that power to choose his own successor. Read more in the Catholic Herald.

Rome is currently rife with rumours of an impending papal resignation, but Pope Francis has been busy warning of a grave “threat to public health”. Read more in ABC Religion & Ethics.

News leaked that the US Supreme Court planed to overturn its most famous decision, that in Roe vs Wade (1973) which protects a pregnant woman's freedom to choose to have an abortion. I asked what that might mean for the Catholic Church? Read more in Eureka Street.

Cardinal George Pell took two German bishops to task over their exhortations for the Catholic Church to change its teachings about homosexuality. But where does his statement sit within the history of the Church’s teaching on sexuality? Read more in ABC Religion & Ethics.

Pope Francis has faced a difficult balancing act in his efforts to oppose the war in Ukraine. What have been the factors involved? Read more in Eureka Street.

A now former parish priest from Arizona wrongfully adapted the liturgical formula used to baptise. But is it really the case that God would not recognise the baptism of any departed soul because the priest, his servant, had messed up? Read more in ABC Religion & Ethics.

A law firm has presented findings in its investigation into historic sexual abuse in the Munich archdiocese. The report is shocking but what should our response be? Read more in La croix international.

Pope Francis has stirred controversy over remarks about the “selfishness” of those who prefer owning pets to having children. His position is consistent with his Franciscan emphasis on simple living, but not with the Church’s promotion of celibacy as the highest state of Christian being. Read more in ABC Religion & Ethics.

Pope Francis turned eighty-five tin December 2021, the same age at which his predecessor Benedict XVI “retired”. So does a dilemma now face him? Read more in Eureka Street.

Pope Francis caused a stir in the Vatican when he ordered cardinals and other senior officials to take a pay cut. Can he succeed it curtailing their agenda or lifestyles? Read more in ABC Religion & Ethics.