Monday’s News & Ideas - 4/13/2026
- Pope criticizes the president
- Quarter of private colleges may close
- Paul remade history
- Militant Christian theology
- Catholics sue for exemption
- Malibu in matchbooks
A president and a pope: The world’s most influential Americans are at odds over Iran
The Associated Press: Never before has the relationship between Washington and the Vatican revolved around two Americans.
The Guardian: Trump calls Pope Leo ‘weak’ and ‘terrible’ in extraordinary broadside
More than a quarter of private colleges are at risk of closing, a new projection shows
NPR: A new estimate projects that 442 of the nation’s 1,700 private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities, with a combined 670,000 students, are at risk of closing or having to merge within the next 10 years.
St. Paul remade human history. How did he do it?*
The New Yorker: New scholarship reconsiders the apostle who turned a Jewish sect into a world religion — and whose legacy remains contested two millennia later.
Pete Hegseth’s holy war: The militant Christian theology animating the US attack on Iran
The Guardian: The Bible-thumping US defense secretary is overseeing another strategic disaster in the Middle East. Is this a war or a crusade?
Catholic sisters sue for exemption to LGBTQ+ rights law in NY nursing homes
Religion News Service: The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne say they and their employees could face fines and jail time if they don’t comply with a law mandating they care for transgender patients according to their gender identities.
The Spark
Malibu in matchbooks: Clues to a lost coast
A collection of matchbooks from Southern California maps a vanished mid-century commercial corridor, long displaced by fire and time, JSTOR says.
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