The Vatican's denunciation of certain works by the Jesuit theologian Jon Sobrino will be widely seen as a renewal of its campaign against liberation theology. He is one of its leading exponents. Nevertheless, the terms of the latest judgement differ significantly from previous actions against this theology in two respects. First, the grounds of disapproval, likely to seem somewhat arcane to secular commentators, are not so much to do with Fr Sobrino's politics as with his ecclesiology and Christology, particularly as set forth in his two books Jesus the Liberator (1993) and Christ the Liberator (2001). As the titles indicate, he thinks the two are linked. Liberation theology has tended to equate the Church of the apostolic tradition as stated in the Creeds with "the Church of the poor", usually particularised as the poor of Latin America. While the Vatican statement in no way repudiates the "preferential option for the poor", which is one of liberation theology's most important innovations, it finds Fr Sobrino's expression of it defective. But liberation theology does not stand or fall by his exposition of it.

Secondly, although it has done so in the past with theologians it has found unacceptable, the Vatican has not ordered him to recant, or ordered his books to be withdrawn, or even tried to ban Catholics from reading them. It has simply warned the faithful that Fr Sobrino is, as it were, offside. Any further measures necessary to protect the flock from error are left to local hierarchies. This is a more mature and respectful way to treat the Church at large. There was always something distasteful about the assumption that Catholics should be stopped from reading books that were freely available.

This more grown-up way of doing business may reflect the influence of Cardinal William Levada, the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. As an American he can be presumed to believe firmly in the civilised ...

Planet Earth should in theory be capable of supporting life, including human life, for thousands of years to come - indeed, some estimates say millions. It all depends on the human race. Not long ago the greatest danger seemed to come from nuclear war between the superpowers. Now the major threat is environmental damage, particularly the heating up of the atmosphere owing  to the discharge into it of so-called ...

Cardinal William Levada, the new head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has yet to gain a reputation as either a hard man or a soft man. But on the basis of one of the most wide-ranging interviews he has given since his appointment last year - he was formerly Archbishop of San Francisco - he is certainly entitled to credit as an open-minded one. If his words (reported on page 27) indicate a general ...

Almost the whole burden of preserving the Anglican Communion from schism now rests on the shoulders of the Episcopal Church in the United States. It has about seven months to decide whether to comply with a tough package of conditions drawn up by the Anglican primates in Tanzania this week. If they fail, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will refuse to invite their bishops to the next Lambeth Conference ...

The report by the Von Hügel Institute into the needs of recent Catholic migrants in London throws down a challenge to which the Church must respond. As a result of the accession of Eastern European countries to the European Union and Britain's relatively open-door policy towards them, tens of thousands of mainly young migrants find themselves away from home with only one familiar institution to turn to - the ...