The Vatican has admitted shelving a theological report into the morality of the use of condoms to prevent Aids reports The Tablet s Rome correspondent Robert Mickens The study was undertaken in 2006 by the Pontifical Council for Health Care and submitted to the Congregation for the Doctrine of t
Austen Ivereigh
Austen Ivereigh is a fellow in Contemporary Church History at Campion Hall, at the University of Oxford, and a biographer of Pope Francis. In 2020 he collaborated with Pope Francis on Let Us Dream: the Path to a Better Future, published by Simon & Schuster. His most recent book is First Belong to God: On Retreat with Pope Francis, published by Loyola Press.
Church of England trads left in the cold by Synod delays
The Church of England s Parliament known as the General Synod meets this week beginning today with an announcement on women bishops which is certain to have an impact on the numbers of Anglican traditionalists choosing to take up the Pope s ordinariate offer Synod voted two years ago to move tow
Crack media team created for papal visit to the UK — and why it’s needed
A well-briefed media-trained speakers bureau of Catholics is being set up in the UK in advance of Benedicts XVI s visit in September Declaration of interest I m one of those behind it Catholic Voices is a project of the Catholic Union a venerable institution created in the late nineteenth cent
Pope kicks up a storm ahead of UK visit
The UK media outcry over Pope Benedict s remarks Monday to the English and Welsh bishops caught me by surprise Anger as Pope slams UK equality law is the Press Association headline which could stand for all the others nbsp The Pope told the English and Welsh bishops in Rome Your country is we
Pope confirms UK trip, calls for Catholic apologists
Pope Benedict XVI has given the first official Vatican confirmation that he will be visiting the UK in September to beatify Cardinal Newman The full text of his address to the English and Welsh bishops at the conclusion of their ad limina visit is here He doesn t give any further details nor even
The first reading is from the Book of Jobs
The Economist s brilliant cover of a haloed Steve Jobs carrying his new iPad made me think that — pace the Vatican spokesman s nbsp warnings about obsessing with cyberspace nbsp – Apple s new gizmo could well transform church life Christians already use their smartphones and handhelds to read th
Blair on Iraq: a tormented man
Tony Blair who gave evidence today to an enquiry in London set up to draw lessons from the Iraq disaster has disappointed many people by refusing to express regret about his decision to go to war Unrepentant defiant nbsp righteous are some of the inevitable headline words but they stri
Stop the discussions, pleads Legionary head
A month away from the Vatican report on the future of the Legionaries of Christ its head has written to its members asking for an end to damaging debates over the Congregation s future According to the Peru-based ACI Prensa Fr Alvaro Corcuera has sent a letter to Legionaries to ask for charity an
SOS for Vietnam Catholics
Catholics in Vietnam are mobilizing in prayer vigils following the savage beating of a Redemptorist priest amidst escalating violence by the Government against the Church according to the Fides News Service in Rome The Redemptorists have sent a letter to the Hanoi authorities asking them to lift a
Jewish-Catholic relations set to chill in 2010
An online petition has been launched ht Ruth Gledhill to protest the beatification of Pope Pius XII expected next October together with that of Pope John Paul II The decision by Pope Benedict XVI to proceed with the beatification made just before Christmas has led to a spate of Jews spitting
