Roman Catholic Church

A million flock to Facebook to hear Justin Welby search the scriptures

The Archbishop of Canterbury led a live-streamed Bible study on Facebook a few weeks ago. People logged in from all over the world, including the UK, USA, South Sudan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Australia, the Seychelles and Japan. At the time…

Catholic bishops: picking their principles of social teaching

May 10, 2016
377 Comments

This is a guest post by Peter Smith: a Roman Catholic barrister practising in London. ______________________ Thus, the Catholic bishops in England and Wales have spoken. The EU Referendum, they…

Tina Beattie, abortion morality, and the Catholic bishops in office but not in power

April 30, 2016
744 Comments

This is a guest post by Cardinal Mary Clarence. __________________________________ As is now well known, Professor Tina Beattie of Roehampton University and a member of CAFOD’s (Catholic Association for Overseas…

Vatican says UK is "better in than out" of the EU

January 24, 2016
674 Comments

"The Vatican wants Britain to stay in the European Union, the Pope's foreign secretary has declared." So writes the Telegraph, noting that Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with…

Pope's preacher lauds the "great theological and spiritual enrichment" of the Reformation

November 26, 2015
115 Comments

When Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, Preacher to the Papal Household, was invited to speak in Westminster Abbey at the inauguration of the 10th General Synod of the Church of England,…

Is the Pope Anglican?

November 17, 2015
265 Comments

The American Spectator isn't at all happy with the "liberal" Pope Francis and his "caricaturing of conservatives". That's Roman Catholic traditionalists, as opposed to the GOP-type conservative. "Under the…

Happy Reformation Day

October 31, 2015
0 Comments

Quite why Martin Luther chose to protest against Tetzel and his sale of indulgences on All Hallows' Eve is unknown, unless it was simply a marketing decision to ensure…

Divorce and remarriage: Catholic crisis, chaos, conspiracy, or just contextual theology?

October 25, 2015
403 Comments

The fallout from the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church (aka 'Synod on the Family') has been considerable. Whatever the reported…

The Queen hosts President Xi Jinping, and the Catholic Herald sneers at her hypocrisy

October 21, 2015
0 Comments

"As the Catholic Herald has constantly stressed, China continues to persecute Christians, and there is evidence that this persecution is getting worse. How ironic, then, that the Supreme Governor…

No more excuses: Bishop Peter Ball's abuse demands more than regret

October 9, 2015
462 Comments

If we need any evidence of humankind’s fallen sinfulness then we only have to look at our propensity to do things for our own gain that we know to…

"I'm not sure I believe in God, but I'll take Pope Francis over Richard Dawkins any day"

September 28, 2015
178 Comments

Chris Deerin was a "devout Catholic, altar boy.. (who) wanted to be a priest". That's nice. Sadly (or fortunately, whichever side you're on), he is devout no more. He…

Welby: "Christians are not saints"; Cranmer: "O yes we are"

August 27, 2015
103 Comments

"Christians are not saints," tweeted Lambeth Palace, apparently quoting from a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. "They are sinners calling other sinners to know and love…

Assisted suicide and the unbearable indignity of the insupportable life

August 3, 2015
256 Comments

"I can't take this anymore," said Chantal Sebire (left), as the cancerous bulge ate into her nasal cavity and gnawed at her brain, robbing her of sight, taste and…

Cameron can no more "destroy the Caliphate" than he can abolish the New Jerusalem

July 21, 2015
190 Comments

David Cameron's long-awaited speech on Islamic extremism (aka Islamism) was sort of worth waiting for. As he expounded his 'One Nation' vision to defeat the "poison" of extremism, he…

Greek Orthodox Church urges Greeks to "vote for Europe" (and more austerity)

July 4, 2015
315 Comments

Greece is bankrupt, on its economic knees, humiliated before the IMF default, now begging the ECB/Germany for palliative compassion. The Greeks are in turmoil; some queuing patiently to withdraw…

Laudato Si – Pope Francis gives a timely gift to humanity

June 19, 2015
254 Comments

Two momentous events happened yesterday: the Vatican finally discovered PowerPoint and the Pope (or at least the person in charge of his Twitter account) proved that he had mastered…

This is how the 'Christian vote' now looks

June 16, 2015
153 Comments

During the run up to May’s General Election, we had a few polls that attempted to gauge what the Christian vote would look like. Carrying out such an exercise…

The undue political interference of 'undue spiritual influence'

May 15, 2015
73 Comments

Giles Fraser (pictured centre) has written a perfectly-pitched (yes, indeed) piece, 'Is it one rule for the Hindus and another for the Muslims?', which relates to the judgment in…

Pope Francis and the Armenian slaughter he didn't call genocide

April 13, 2015
202 Comments

Pope Francis delivered a speech at St Peter's in Rome to commemorate the slaughter of 1.5million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during the First World War, a century ago.…

Scotland's Roman Catholic bishops condemn Jim Murphy's hypocrisy

April 11, 2015
324 Comments

Another Pastoral Letter on the General Election – this time from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland to their 841,000 worshippers spread across 452 parishes (which is an awful…