The “Postliberal” Mirage: When Compromise Replaces the Kingship of Christ
National Catholic Register portal (June 22, 2026) reports on Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s commentary advocating for a “civil debate” among Catholics regarding “postliberalism.” The article presents postliberalism as a legitimate political philosophy that Catholics should consider as an alternative to “liberal secularism,” while simultaneously warning against its “extreme” forms. Cordileone positions himself as a neutral arbiter, encouraging Catholics to “steel sharpen steel” in intellectual discourse about the relationship between church and state, the scope of civil liberties, and the common good. He explicitly states that “the Church’s mission is not to canonize a particular political system” and that “Catholics may legitimately prefer one form of government over another.” This framing reveals a fundamental misunderstanding — or deliberate evasion — of the Church’s perennial teaching on the social reign of Christ the King and the absolute duty of states to recognize His sovereign authority. The article’s very premise — that Catholics should debate the merits of various political systems as if the Church had no definitive teaching on the matter — is itself a symptom of the modernist apostasy that has infected the conciliar sect.

