NCR Editorial Staff

We say: The Vos Estis Lux Mundi system to evaluate allegations of sexual abuse or cover-up against individual Catholic bishops needs two major things.

We say: The most basic and universal way that nearly everyone or at least the largest possible number of Americans can participate in public life — as Gaudium et Spes says is necessary — is by voting. Why try to reduce participation?

We say: We must no longer ignore the trauma experienced by citizens of Asian descent throughout U.S. history. We must learn to uplift the Asian experience, from our Catholic schools to our parishes to our media.

Your thoughts: NCR readers respond to our editorial saying that Pope Francis' decision to approve the CDF decree on not offering same-sex couples a blessing is strikingly out of character.

We say: The pope's decision to approve the March 15 decree from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith instructing Catholic priests not to offer blessings for same-sex couples seems strikingly out of character.

We say: It's a complicated moral universe, so it's frustrating to see bishops and others sowing doubts about vaccines and relief that promote the common good.

We say: Pope Francis could not heal the wounds in Iraq, but he could and did demonstrate solidarity with the victims. But, despite assurances, the trip was not held in a way to minimize the possibility of the spread of coronavirus among Iraqis.

We say: Texas has proved to be the "perfect storm" for assessing a future in which a deregulated and underspending government fails to respond to catastrophic events, especially those caused by climate change.

We say: Catholic tradition clearly supports paying workers a fair, living wage for their labor: multiple references in Scripture, the preferential option for the poor in Catholic social teaching, the words of Rerum Novarum and recent comments from Pope Francis.

We say: Returning to some version of the pre-Trump era is a minimal start. Justice requires a much deeper commitment to seeking the truth about our history in order to accomplish comprehensive immigration reform.

We say: The work of Catholic News Service, which has covered every significant event in the life of church or country for the past 100 years, remains a real service, in the truest sense of the word.

We say: The past four years have revealed that the U.S. bishops' conference is a group unable to represent the full range of Catholic teaching and unfit to act in the name of American Catholics.

We say: In his inaugural address Jan. 20, President Joe Biden declared that democracy had prevailed, asserting that "disagreement must not lead to disunion" and calling for Americans to "start afresh."

We say: Stigmatizing Trump's call to overturn an election is the first step down the path of moral reckoning. If inviting an insurrection against the United States is not an impeachable offense, nothing is.

We say: Among those with some culpability for yesterday's failed insurrection are more than a few leaders in our church. Catholic apologists for President Trump have blood on their hands.

We say: Joe Biden's biography and political outlook are attuned to the fact that we as a nation must learn again how to look after one another. As Catholics, we can give advice to our president-elect.

Editorial: The election of a churchgoing, rosary-carrying Catholic as U.S. president, only the second Catholic elected to the office, would itself be historic in a normal year. But 2020 has not been a normal year.

We say: The aftermath of Trump's term is an appropriate time to take stock of what has gone wrong, to identify the ways in which we can strengthen our constitutional order so that the next Trump-like leader isn't nearly as successful.

We say: It's no understatement to say that 2020 has been a year like no other, one already beset with plenty of delayed gratification, waiting and loss. The people in darkness are desperate for the light.

We say: Beyond the history-making nature of the decision, there are many other reasons to praise Pope Francis for choosing Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory as one of 13 new cardinals.