Celebration of the Eucharist is at the heart of Catholic identity, to the extent that regular attendance at Mass usually defines who is and who is not entitled to call themselves by that name. This may be why liturgical controversy in the Church sometimes takes on a hard and bitter edge. The latest display of ill feeling has been triggered by the somewhat unenthusiastic welcome in some parts of the Church given to Pope Benedict's motu proprio of last July, licensing the more general use of the Tridentine Rite. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican, this week accused bishops who were trying to limit use of the Tridentine Mass of being "in rebellion against the Pope" and guilty of "one of the gravest sins" - pride. Certain "theologians, liturgists, priests, bishops and even cardinals" had issued "interpretative documents that inexplicably try to limit the Pope's motu proprio", he complained.

The substance of his charge is somewhat perplexing, as the motu proprio itself implied some limitations, such as its restriction of the use of the Old Rite to "stable groups" who had "adhered" to it. That seemed to refer to strongly traditionalist Catholics who already had special dispensation to celebrate Mass in that form, and such groups are by no means either numerous or evenly spread. Thus the judgement of Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow, for instance, that no such groups existed in his diocese, seems a reasonable one and hardly an act of disobedience. If the Pope meant to give universal approval for the use of the Tridentine Rite without conditions, he would presumably have said so. And if Archbishop Ranjith's words signal his lack of confidence in the loyalty of various bishops to the Pope, such intemperate language will hardly gain him the confidence of the wider Church. He has made his own job immeasurably more difficult. Indeed one of those he appears to be ...

Members of the Islamic extremist gang that blew up trains in Madrid three years ago, killing 190 people, have been convicted and sentenced, and it has acted as a moment of healing for Spanish society, long used to living with bitter memories. Another possible moment of healing is at hand, different but strangely related - the revisiting of the murderous Spanish Civil War of the 1930s in order to lay to rest the era's ...

The joint statement on abortion from the two cardinals of the Catholic Church in Britain, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster and Cardinal Keith O'Brien of Edinburgh, signals a welcome change of tone in the Church's treatment of this vexed issue. Speaking on behalf of their two bishops' conferences, the cardinals recognise much more explicitly than previous Church statements that the debate ...

There is something peculiar about the current proceedings of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, which is taking evidence on whether there is a need for a change in the abortion law. Not only has the committee decided to disregard moral and ethical arguments and concentrate only on the "scientific evidence", but a sustained attempt has been made to discredit those expert witnesses who happen ...