The current convergence of interests between the British Government and the Vatican is remarkable. Pope and Prime Minister almost simultaneously pressed the current chairman of the G8, Chancellor Merkel of Germany, to put Africa at the head of the agenda for the forthcoming world summit - successfully, as it now appears. Then the Environment Secretary David Miliband goes to Rome to praise papal leadership in connection with global warming.

Mr Miliband's speech went further than the demands of courtesy towards a host when he told the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace that the role of religion would be crucial in saving the planet from destructive climate change. The will to act will flow from moral values and not just from facts. Speaking directly to the Pontifical Council, he said: "You have a global reach and influence that individual governments do not. And far from being an add-on to the values and work you do, climate change is integral, particularly to the work you do on development."

Thus have the issues that will soon take Tony Blair and other world leaders to the summit in Heiligendamm converged with those that took Mr Miliband - standing in for British Chancellor Gordon Brown, he intriguingly said - to Vatican City. Economic development in the poorer parts of the world will be a lost cause if the countries concerned are to be devastated by the effects of climate change, ranging from starvation and disease to fire and flood. "The costs will fall on the countries who have done least to cause climate change, and are least able to adapt to its effects," said Mr Miliband.

The combating of climate change is in essence a conflict between long-term and short-term self-interest: long term, even the wealthiest can hardly wish to see the planet made uninhabitable for future generations; but short term, sacrifice, inconvenience  and painful changes in lifestyle will be required. This is where moral teaching will be crucial, and the ...

It is almost too easy to hold American gun law responsible for American gun crime. The ready availability of firearms is undoubtedly one of the reasons why a student at Virginia Tech shot and killed more than 30 university members - fellow students and academic staff - before turning his weapon on himself. But it also has to be noted that the pro-gun lobby is saying that if more students carried guns, he could have ...

Though he is concerned to preserve Catholicism's unity and identity, the fundamental characteristic of Pope Benedict's papacy so far has been his tone of encouragement rather than of disapproval. Explaining in an interview why during his visit there he had not joined the Spanish bishops' denunciation of proposals to recognise gay relationships, he replied: "Christianity, Catholicism, isn't a collection ...

Easter is one of two moments in the year when church congregations experience a surge. The Christmas Day surge is easier to understand, given that it has been the focus of the retail industry for weeks beforehand. Easter remains essentially a religious festival and its congregations may contain a greater proportion of people who are enquirers, either asking themselves whether the time has come to return to the faith ...

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor used his erudite Corbishley Lecture this week to erect a breakwater against the incoming tide of aggressive secularism and atheism. His purpose was both to start a debate, he said, and to sound an alarm against the "new intolerance" that disputes the presence of religion in the public sphere. A new breed of secularists, increasingly visible in the media and in politics, ...