New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd continues her rant against a president she characterizes as an effete out of touch elitist who is willfully ignorant of the plights of the common person The column Myth and Madness begins as a discussion about Delaware s GOP nominee for Senate the much mali

nbsp nbsp nbsp Turning 30 was so far the most traumatic birthday of my life My thirties were the hardest decade to enter even worse than my forties or fifties which really makes little sense Thirty seemed like the end of possibilities Once a person is 30 it seemed to me the path of life

A short while ago at 6 45 pm UK time Pope Benedict XVI s Alitalia plane Shepherd One threaded its way into the lead skies above Birmingham Airport back to Rome after a brief departure ceremony in which the prime minister David Cameron told him that he had challenged the whole country to s

To compliment Austen Ivereigh s superb reporting over the last few days on the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman this video of the beatification ceremony which includes some of the pope s remarks on the newest Blessed nbsp

The Gospel readings for today suggest either Luke 16 1-13 or Luke 16 10-13 I can easily understand why a Priest or Deacon might elect to preach on 16 10-13 today omitting the whole of the parable of the dishonest steward or manager Most commentators see the parable itself running from verses 1-

COFTON PARK BIRMINGHAM ENGLAND The Mass of the Beatification of Cardinal Newman has just ended Newman is beatified This was the Pope s final large-scale event and it was another triumph He has not put a foot wrong and the newspapers this morning are all wondering how he did it By our apo

BIRMINGHAM England Bill Kilgallon chairman of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission of England and Wales gave a briefing to journalists shortly before the beginning of Mass here about the meeting which took place yesterday -- the first of its kind -- between the Pope and safeguarding

Cambridge MA Saturday 6 10 PM It rsquo s been a few weeks since I rsquo ve blogged mdash the combination of the hectic beginning of semester the exhausted my three blogs on Dominus Iesus and the happy ceding this space for two unique and interesting entries by Deacon Mike Iwanowicz mdas

If Pope Benedict is half as tired as I now feel at the end of the vigil in London s Hyde Park he will sleep well tonight -- after another punishing schedule at the close of his triumphant UK visit The Vigil -- which managed to resist being termed Pope in the Park -- was moving powerful and pr

From the October issue of the Atlantic an exhaustive profile of America rsquo s most powerful Catholic politico Vice President Joe Biden Writer Mark Bowden chronicles Biden rsquo s ascendency to President Obama rsquo s inner circle highlighting his transformation over the last two years from gaf

Pope Benedict XVI s four-day visit to the UK has so far been one long argument -- demonstrated in words deeds and symbolism -- against the secularist attempt to drive out faith from the public square But the argument has been accompanied by a call -- to Catholics to take their place in that square

At a Mass at Westminster Cathedral Pope Benedict has just spoken these words in his homily -- some of the strongest yet expressed on clerical sex abuse ldquo Here too I think of the immense suffering caused by the abuse of children especially within the Church and by her ministers Above all I e

WESTMINSTER I ve just come out from Pope Benedict XVI s address to representatives of civil society in Parliament s Westminster Hall feeling like I ve witnessed a genuine historical moment The Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow told the Pope that what was once thought inconceiv

From the Tablet s blog by Catherine Pepinster editor in chief When the staff of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity were told on Tuesday that Cardinal Walter Kasper ndash their boss of 10 years who retired just a few weeks ago ndash would not be joining the papal visit to Br

TWICKENHAM Pope Benedict s UK campaign against secularism has continued this morning at a Catholic university college in south-west London where he has given three addresses which amplified the clear theme of this visit -- that pluralism depends on opening up to faith The first speech this morni

This week we have a video report on the short-term and long-term efforts to restore church artifacts and salvage church records in the Archdiocese of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina Archivists from around the country pitched in to save and catalogue items Watch the video below to learn more

Pope Sixtus V called it ldquo contrary to Christian charity rdquo The third Lateran Council proclaimed it ldquo a heresy rdquo worthy of excommunication Both Old and New Testaments denounced it as did Plato Aristotle Moses the Buddha and Muhammad The offensive practice Usury defined a

The Pope has continued with the argument he wants to have with British secularism at a joyous outdoor Mass attended by 70 000 in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow Scotland -- reprising a phrase which has come to define his pontificate nbsp The evangelization of culture is all the more important in our

British humanists have reacted furiously to Pope Benedict lumping together atheism and Nazism in his speech at Edinburgh As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the 20th century let us never forget how the exclusion of God religion and virtue from public life leads ul

Confounding the image of him created by the storm of criticism this past week in the British press Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Edinburgh this morning with his eyes downcast generating a warmth that seemed to spread through the crowds On the flight from Rome he spoke of his sorrow at clerical se