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
Fr. Maciej Zięba, O.P. (1954–2020)
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on January 13, 2021
Catholic Coherence, Catholic Integrity
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on January 6, 2021
Thoughts on a Pro-Life Picket Line
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on December 30, 2020
What the Magi Teach Us
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on December 23, 2020
On Cages and Evangelization in China
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on December 16, 2020
“Those Who Question the Sanctity of John Paul II Don’t Know What They’re Talking About”
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on December 9, 2020
Books for Christmas—2020
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on December 2, 2020
Thanksgiving and the Paradox of Death
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on November 25, 2020
Hard Lessons of the McCarrick Affair
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on November 18, 2020
American Democracy’s Moral and Cultural Foundations
Published in Law and Liberty on November 11, 2020
An Open Letter to the People of “Courage”
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on November 11, 2020
Theodore McCarrick, Not John Paul II, Is the Story of the McCarrick Report
Published in First Things on November 10, 2020
The McCarrick Report: No Smoking Gun, but Massive System Failure
Published in The Catholic World Report on November 10, 2020
Looking into the Future Through His Eyes: John Paul II, the Catholic Church, and the Crisis of the West
Published in The Catholic World Report on November 5, 2020
Three Models of Priestly Goodness
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on November 4, 2020
Prudential Voting in Bad Times
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on October 28, 2020
Joe Biden, Pre-Conciliar Catholic?
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on October 21, 2020
The Hard Road of National Renewal
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on October 14, 2020
The Toxic Waste of Roe v. Wade
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on October 7, 2020
Interview: George Weigel on The Future of the Church
Published in Medium on October 2, 2020
Truman’s Terrible Choice, 75 Years Ago
Published in George Weigel’s weekly column The Catholic Difference on September 30, 2020
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