Making her First Things debut, Rachel Chiu looks at the state of religious freedom in Venezuela and the potential of the Church to serve as a stabilizing presence. She tells her family history, intertwining it with the modern economic history of Venezuela. Through their hardships, the Church helped, providing assistance and education. It can, Chiu argues, play that role again. But first, the United States must role back Venezuela’s recent history of oppression.

“According to the U.S. Department of State, government officers and aligned groups intimidated and detained Catholic clergymen, disrupted church services, and attacked attendees. Extending Chávez’s intolerance for political disagreement, Maduro used an anti-hate law to persecute dissenting clergy.”

For further reading: Editor R. R. Reno wrote about Venezuela last month: “Trump’s Caracas Gambit.” He concluded that the arrest of Maduro will be judged not as a moral act itself but, for good or ill, as part of a larger shift in foreign relations.

From the February issue: Also making a First Things debut, Fr. Charles Marie Rooney, O.P., writes about his tour of duty in healthcare ministry as a newly ordained priest. Hospitals are a place of death but also, as Fr. Rooney found, intense closeness to God. His essay is theologically rich and deeply touching.

For further reading: First Things founder, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, wrote about death, too. He wrote a book, As I Lay Dying, reflecting on his weeks in the hospital after a tumor ruptured. Before the book was published, he wrote a serious theological and literary consideration of death and his experience: “Born Toward Dying” (February 2000).

Listen: Mark Vernon joins the Conversations podcast to discuss his new book on William Blake with show host Mark Bauerlein. They explore Blake’s innocence/experience dichotomy by taking seriously his woolier, mystic oeuvre. 

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”

Upcoming Events

• Tomorrow: Second Annual Angelicum Aquinas Lecture: “A Conversation with the Theologian of the Papal Household” ft. Fr. Wojciech Giertych, O.P. | New York, NY. Register here.

• February 10, 2026: The Protestant Mind newsletter launch by Dale Coulter | Subscribe here.

• March 5, 2026: Annual D.C. Lecture: “Our Crisis is Metaphysical” ft. Mary Harrington | Washington, DC. Register here.

Until next time,

JACOB AKEY

Associate Editor