Austen Ivereigh

A correspondent in Zimbabwe a social worker writes A power-sharing deal between the MDC and Zanu PF has been agreed This is not what Zimbabweans voted for but it seems we must make the best of it if we are to save the country from complete ruin The very people who designed and implemented the

At the Mass for the Sick which Pope Benedict celebrated in Lourdes France this morning nbsp he seemed to downplay the importance of miracle physical cures in nbsp favour of the idea of healing as an experience of God ldquo How many come here to see it with the hope ndash secretly perhaps nda

The Mass celebrated today in Lourdes by Pope Benedict XVI brought back memories for me of the one celebrated by Pope John Paul II on his visit in August 2004 As it turned out it was his last foreign trip He was already a very sick man and within a year he would be dead It turned out to be a powe

The Pope in Paris yesterday gave a speech which will be remembered as one of his most significant not just because of its content ndash nbsp which has recast the current European thinking about freedom and faith ndash but because of its historic context It was made just a few hours after a tw

I m going to take a punt Pope Benedict XVI s four-day visit to France beginning this Friday is set to be one of the defining moments of his pontificate The theme of his papacy has always been to challenge the dictatorship of relativism — his memorable term for the newly-invigorated Europe

Or so it is claimed by T-shirts printed off this week in the wake of the Republican VP nominee s put-down of Barack Obama s former profession in her speech last Wednesday Is this a new front in America s faith-culture wars It seems odd for a party seeking the God vote to diss one of the grea

By dawn Christian homes in the village were smoking heaps of burnt mud and concrete shells Churches were razed their wooden doors and windows stripped off A Reuters first-hand account of the continuing pogrom against Christians in eastern India — Christians cower from Hindu backclash in Orissa

The Pope today met the French-Colombian ex-hostage Ingrid Betancourt for 25 minutes in Castel Gandolfo They had a lot to talk about Betancourt it turns out had a remarkable journey of faith during her six years as the world s most famous hostage — and the Pope has a role in it One day after

There are some extraordinary gatherings organised by Catholic movements that take place each year but which go largely unnoticed by the media One is the annual interfaith gathering organised by the Sant Egidio community in a different city in October each year Another is the so-called Rimini Mee