George Weigel
Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies
Program: Catholic Studies
Contact: catholicstudies@eppc.org
George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and one of America’s leading public intellectuals. He holds EPPC’s William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.
From 1989 through June 1996, Mr. Weigel was president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he led a wide-ranging, ecumenical and inter-religious program of research and publication on foreign and domestic policy issues.
Mr. Weigel is perhaps best known for his widely translated and internationally acclaimed two-volume biography of Pope St. John Paul II: the New York Times bestseller, Witness to Hope (1999), and its sequel, The End and the Beginning (2010). In 2017, Weigel published a memoir of the experiences that led to his papal biography: Lessons in Hope — My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II.
George Weigel is the author of more than twenty other books, including The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God (2005); Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church (2013); Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches (2013); Letters to a Young Catholic (2015); and The Fragility of Order: Catholic Reflections on Turbulent Times (2018). His essays, op-ed columns, and reviews appear regularly in major opinion journals and newspapers across the United States. A frequent guest on television and radio, he is also Senior Vatican Analyst for NBC News. His weekly column, “The Catholic Difference,” is syndicated to eighty-five newspapers and magazines in seven countries.
Mr. Weigel received a B.A. from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore and an M.A. from the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto. He is the recipient of nineteen honorary doctorates in fields including divinity, philosophy, law, and social science, and has been awarded the Papal Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, Poland’s Gloria Artis Gold Medal, and Lithuania’s Diplomacy Star.
George Weigel is a giant. George, God bless you for everything you do, not only for this organization, not only for the Church, not only for the country, but truly for humanity.
Robert P. George
PUBLICATIONS
The Providential Demise of the Papal States
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on September 23, 2020
The Fatuities of Professor Faggioli
Published in The Catholic World Report on September 17, 2020
A Man for Strengthening Others
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on September 16, 2020
Skin in the Game: Pro Athletes and Education
Published in National Review Online on August 31, 2020
Religious Freedom: Bleached, Blanched, and Rinsed Out
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on September 9, 2020
The Case for Dynamic Orthodoxy
Published in The Portal (UK) on September 3, 2020
Christ at the Center of the Council
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on September 2, 2020
The Vatican Should Speak up on China’s Repression in Hong Kong and Beyond
Published in The Washington Post on August 31, 2020
An Agenda for the Catholic Future
Published in Die Tagespost on August 27, 2020
Why We Are Where We Are
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on August 26, 2020
Rediscovering Eucharistic Amazement
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on August 19, 2020
Rediscovering the Reality of the Eucharist
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on August 12, 2020
AM[D]G
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on August 5, 2020
The Next Pope and the Crisis of the West
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on July 29, 2020
The Next Pope and Vatican Diplomacy
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on July 22, 2020
“My Book Is an Agenda-For-The-Future Book, Not a Book About Personalities.”
Published in The Catholic World Report on July 20, 2020
Catholic Schools Are ‘Public’ Schools
Published in National Review Online on July 16, 2020
A Paradox for the Next Pope
Published in The Wall Street Journal on July 16, 2020
The Next Pope and Vatican II
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on July 15, 2020
St. John Paul II: A Centenary Reflection
Published in First Things - August 2020 issue on July 9, 2020
From ‘Anchors Aweigh’ to Away-from-Church
Published in National Review Online on July 8, 2020
The Next Pope and the Great Commission
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on July 9, 2020
Books for the Summer of Our Discontent
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on July 1, 2020
Will Nancy Pelosi Take a Page from Her Father’s Playbook?
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on June 24, 2020
The Biases of a Royal Commission
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on June 17, 2020
Audrey Donnithorne: Woman of Valor
Published in The Catholic World Report on June 12, 2020
“The Heavens Declare the Glory of God…”
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on June 10, 2020
The Vatican’s Choice: Jimmy Lai or Xi Jinping?
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on June 3, 2020
Extraordinary Evangelization in Extraordinary Times
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on May 27, 2020
The Anatomy of a Pathology
Published in The Catholic World Report on May 25, 2020
Games Intellectuals Play
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on May 20, 2020
Interview: George Weigel on Pope St. John Paul II and Religious Freedom
Published in Religious Freedom Institute blog on May 18, 2020
John Paul II’s Political Lexicon: Seven Lessons for Today’s Struggling Democracies
Published in Notes from Poland on May 16, 2020
Pope John Paul II’s Soviet Spy
Published in The Wall Street Journal on May 14, 2020
On John Paul II’s Centenary
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on May 13, 2020
The Soul of Pope St. John Paul II
Published in The Catholic World Report on May 8, 2020
Joseph Ratzinger, Theological Reformer
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on May 6, 2020
The “Historic” Amazonian Synod, Revisited
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on April 29, 2020
Rediscovering Baptism in Plague-Time
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on April 22, 2020
Religious Freedom Is Not a Boon Granted by the Benign State
Published in The Catholic World Report on April 21, 2020
After Cardinal Pell’s Rightful Acquittal
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on April 15, 2020
An Open Letter to the Priests of the Catholic Church
Published in The Catholic World Report on April 13, 2020
Embracing the Kind of Redeemer God Appointed
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on April 8, 2020
Justice, Finally.
Published in The Catholic World Report on April 6, 2020
Transforming Quarantine Into Retreat
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on April 1, 2020
“Wittenberg” in Synodal Slow Motion
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on March 25, 2020
Dan Lipinski, Myth-Buster
Published in The Catholic World Report on March 20, 2020
Churchmanship
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on March 18, 2020
Doubling Down on a Bad Deal
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on March 11, 2020
A Last Chance for Australian Justice
Published in The Catholic World Report on March 6, 2020
The Clerisy of the Concrete-And-Glass Box Freaks Out
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on March 4, 2020
Aventine Meditations
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on February 26, 2020
Beyond Amazonia
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on February 19, 2020
Flannery O’Connor and Friends, Revisited
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on February 12, 2020
Auschwitz and “Intrinsic Evil”
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on February 5, 2020
The Bullies and That Book
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on January 29, 2020
Before the 2020 Presidentiad Begins in Earnest . . .
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference
The Two Popes: Baloney, Brilliantly Acted
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on January 15, 2020
Atheistic Humanism vs. the “Message from Jerusalem”
Published in Mosaic on January 13, 2020
The Martini Curve Revisited
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on January 8, 2020
New Year’s Resolutions for Concerned Catholics: A Few Suggestions
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on January 1, 2020
Christmas, Freedom, and Obedience
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on December 25, 2019
The Well-Fought Fight
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on December 18, 2019
Remembering Father Leonard Klein (1945-2019)
Published in The Catholic World Report on December 12, 2019
Books for Christmas—2019
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on December 11, 2019
National Interest, National Purpose: Reimagining Morality and Foreign Policy
Published in Providence on December 5, 2019
A Last Chance for Australian Justice
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on December 4, 2019
Remembering Rob Odle
Published in National Review Online on December 2, 2019
The Reformed Liturgy, 50 Years Later
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on November 27, 2019
Why Did the Wall Fall, 30 Years Ago?
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on November 20, 2019
The “Synodality” Masquerade
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on November 13, 2019
Freedom, Including Religious Freedom, Is Never Free
Published in The Catholic World Report on November 11, 2019
Fearlessness and the American Bishops in Rome
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on November 6, 2019
The Irony of Catholic History: An Interview with George Weigel
Published in The Anxious Bench on October 31, 2019
A New Cardinal Honors an Entire Nation
Published in George Weigel's weekly column The Catholic Difference on October 30, 2019