Christianity is having something of a moment.

Since around 2020, a fascination with liturgical Christianity, and specifically Catholicism, has bubbled up in a small corner of the intellectual world. That year, The Lamp, a magazine best described as “a Catholic version of the New Yorker” debuted. In its pages, you can find unlikely authors like the Italian Marxist philosopher Giorgio Agamben and the socialist essayist Sam Kriss. In 2022, Compact magazine was launched by a pair of traditionalist Catholic writers who also recruited a slew of left-wing columnists. Soon after, the New York Times ran a column titled “New York’s Hottest Club Is the Catholic Church.” While the headline was a joke, the claim was not unfounded.

Curiosity about the church, even from secular and economically progressive quarters, seems to be on the rise. A recent Catholic-inspired economic manifesto, Cathonomics, was hailed by the renowned progressive economist Jeffrey Sachs. And Pope Francis himself met with a group of Marxists to discuss how socialists and Catholics could work together to promote the common good. Whatever else results from that endeavor, it has so far produced a photo of the Marxist philosopher Michael Löwy shaking the Holy Father’s hand. Neither of them appeared to erupt into flames.