The British empire took a giant leap forward into the 19th century today by allowing that royals will not be barred from the throne merely because they married a good gracious Catholic Catholics of course remain barred from the throne itself because of the difficulty and all that rot of seating

From Catholic News Service WASHINGTON CNS -- The nine members of the U S bishops Committee on Doctrine have reaffirmed their concerns that a 2007 book by Fordham University theologian Sister Elizabeth A Johnson is seriously inadequate as a presentation of the Catholic understanding of God In

When early Church documents are unearthed it is usually a cause for celebration and excitement but this partially restored document which contains only the words of one known as the Consultant Early Church Public Relations Feast Division has remained remarkably unknown The ancient language in

BASILICA DI SAN FRANCESCO ASSISI As I write this Pope Benedict has just left with heads of the delegations of different faiths back to Rome where tomorrow he will greet them again in an audience in the Apostolic Palace I will be analysing today s event in detail in a forthcoming article for Am

One of the vivid images of my childhood is the death of Mussolini Growing up in a journalism family I followed politics and the war Then suddenly on page one of every paper were Benito Mussolini and his mistress plus five other corpses strung up-side- down by their feet arms dangling shirts h

To respond he wrote in the margins of the newspaper he was reading and then on a piece of paper proffered him by a black guard and finally on a pad given to him by his attorneys He wrote My Dear Fellow Clergymen While confined here in the Birmingham City Jail I came across your recent statem

The nbsp superb new movie Margin Call which nbsp has opened in nbsp a few theaters nbsp and is set for nbsp wide release nbsp perfectly captures nbsp the more unsavory aspects of nbsp the corporate environment in which I once worked nbsp I saw nbsp the film nbsp in a small theater in New York

BASILICA DI SAN FRANCESCO ASSISI Speaking to some 300 representatives of the world s major religions gathered in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli Pope Benedict XVI this morning expressed shame for the complicity of faith in violence and praised agnostics and other searchers for helping

The story of the creation of a new sculpture Examen which now stands outside the Egan Chapel of St Ignatius Loyola at Fairfield University in Connecticut nbsp The sculpture is a double triumph both a clever visual representation of the examen aka the Ignatian examination of conscience and a

SANTA MARIA DEGLI ANGELI ASSISI The 200-odd religious leaders called here by Pope Benedict XVI have just watched a video about the history of the Assisi interfaith gatherings It was well made scenes of war contrasted with the commitments of religious leaders to peace It was colourful multilin

SANTA MARIA DEGLI ANGELI ASSISI A lot of journalistic ink has been spilled on the differences between the interreligious gathering led by the Pope today and the first one called by John Paul II in 1986 Back in the summer Vatican heavyweights were brought out to clarify any misunderstandings

It seems that whenever the Church speaks out on issues of social and economic import a host of voices unhappy with the message object that the Bishops are ignorant regarding the topic in question and unqualified to discuss it This seems to be the case whether the issue is abortion capital punish

ASSISI ITALY I ve arrived in the home town of St Francis to await the arrival here of Pope Benedict and more than 200 faith leaders who tomorrow will deepen the commitment of religion to peace The event will commemorate the historic first such gathering called by Pope John Paul II on 27 October

Here s my take on CNN com who asked me to weigh in nbsp nbsp Asking if we have turned Steve Jobs into a saint is different from asking if he was a saint The first question turns on how society sees the digital-age genius That rsquo s a question of perception The second turns on how Mr Jobs l

If you haven t done so already head over to the National Catholic Reporter for a great in-depth look at Catholics in the United States today The home page for the series is here The series looks at Catholic education parish life spirituality commitment identity politics the Eucharist Mille

Plato was the first to suggest that the good is diffusive It rsquo s in the very nature of the good to expand to pour itself out Why Of course the ancient Greeks could go no farther than to identify the nature of a thing with what it must be what it is continually is The good simply is dif

The New York Times reports on the push for personhood and a new anti-abortion amendment in Mississippi A constitutional amendment facing voters in Mississippi on Nov 8 and similar initiatives brewing in half a dozen other states including Florida and Ohio would declare a fertilized human egg

Sally Quinn of The Washington Post asked me that question recently and here s the answer in a video interview nbsp

The Los Angeles Times reports on a Mass offered for the twenty-fifth anniversary of a ministry program created by Cardinal Roger Mahony catering to those hit by the HIV crisis The then relatively new Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles Roger Mahony spoke to an audience of gay and lesbian