George Weigel

Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies

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.

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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 work as a papal biographer: Lessons in Hope — My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II.

George Weigel is the author or editor of more than thirty other books, many of which have been translated into other languages. Among the most recent are Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church (2013); Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches (2013); Letters to a Young Catholic (2015); The Fragility of Order: Catholic Reflections on Turbulent Times (2018); The Next Pope: The Office of Peter and a Church in Mission (2020);Not Forgotten: Elegies for, and Reminiscences of, a Diverse Cast of Characters, Most of Them Admirable (2021); and To Sanctify the World: The Vital Legacy of Vatican II (2022). 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 ninety-one newspapers and magazines in five countries.

Mr. Weigel received a B.A. (Philosophy) from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, an M.A. (Theology) from the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto, and is the recipient of nineteen honorary doctorates. In 2024 he was decorated with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, and has also been awarded the Papal Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, the Lithuanian Diplomacy Star, and the Gloria Artis Gold Medal of Poland’s Ministry of Culture.

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Manners, Methods, and Greatness

George Weigel

Browsing Footprints in Time, the memoirs of Winston Churchill’s longtime private secretary, John Colville, I found a tale from eighty years ago…

Articles

Syndicated Column / February 5, 2025

Catholics, Hippocrates, and Reforming American Medicine

George Weigel

I am the odd man out in a family of medical folk. My maternal grandfather was a physician; his daughter,…

Articles

Syndicated Column / January 29, 2025

Joe Biden: When The Last Hurrah Met Catholic Lite

George Weigel

Four years ago, this column praised the courage of Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles, then-president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic…

Articles

Syndicated Column / January 22, 2025

From Doubting Thomas to Doubting Peter?

George Weigel

Ralph Fiennes is a remarkable actor. And if he wins an Academy Award for his brilliant performance in Conclave, this section…

Articles

Syndicated Column / January 15, 2025

Stacked Decks, “Conversations in the Spirit,” and the Catholic Future

George Weigel

Various cultures—English, Turkish, Chinese—claim to have invented the maxim, “The fish rots from the head down” (a favorite in your…

Articles

Syndicated Column / January 8, 2025

Jubilee 2025: New Year’s Resolutions and Resources

George Weigel

Jubilee 2025 began on Christmas Eve 2024, with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s in Rome, and…

Articles

Syndicated Column / January 2, 2025

Embassy Vatican: Some Demystifications

George Weigel

A change of presidential administrations typically leads to changes in U.S. diplomatic personnel abroad, especially at the ambassadorial level. This,…

Articles

Syndicated Column / December 18, 2024

Remembering Lance Morrow

George Weigel

The essayist didn’t lose game as he grew older: He got better, even as he deepened his reflection on two themes that helped define more than a half century of his elegant writing.

Articles

National Review Online / December 12, 2024

Books for Christmas – 2024

George Weigel

A friend told me recently that bookstores were making something of a comeback. I hope that’s true, because browsing bookstores…

Articles

Syndicated Column / December 11, 2024

“Luce,” Mascot of Dumbed-Down Catholicism

George Weigel

During his years as professor of fundamental theology at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, Salvatore “Rino” Fisichella was often cited by…

Articles

Syndicated Column / December 4, 2024

An Open Letter to JD Vance

George Weigel

Dear Senator Vance: As Americans celebrate a unique national holiday, the origins of which remind us that our democracy is…

Articles

Syndicated Column / November 27, 2024

Thomas Farr, defender of religious freedom

George Weigel

The bright line running through a distinguished career in the Army, the Foreign Service, the academy, and the independent sector is Tom’s conviction that the truth sets us free in the deepest meaning of freedom.

Articles

The Catholic World Report / November 13, 2024