Pope Benedict XVI's lucid and profound encyclical Spe Salvi - "Saving Hope" - failed to gain much notice in the secular media but deserves serious attention in the Church, both for what it says and for what it signals. Of the three theological virtues, so called because they are impossible without divine grace, hope is the least understood and therefore the most neglected. Under the papal microscope, a vast treasury of spiritual riches is revealed within this concept for those with eyes to see. These are insights relevant not only to the interior spiritual life but also to humanity's pursuit of progress and its search for justice in the world.

However this encyclical, like his previous one, Deus Caritas Est, is not a pronouncement or proclamation in the manner of his predecessors' encyclicals. It is rather a calm and deep reflection in which, to quote Cardinal Newman's motto, heart speaks to heart. And although technically the teachings of an encyclical are rated the most authoritative of all papal pronouncements save only ex cathedra infallible ones, Benedict gives no impression that he wishes to impose his views on others. His tone is conversational. He uses phrases like "I think that ..." in one place, and later, "I would like to add here another brief comment ..." Even when he writes, "I am convinced that ..." it is to persuade, not to instruct. This is the welcome tone of a spiritual counsellor, rather than an authoritarian. Even more than his first, similar in style in many ways, this extends the definition of what an encyclical can be.

That also helps to define what this encyclical is not. No doors are closed by it; more remains to be said. The Pope is understood to be working on a social encyclical, which may be sufficient explanation of why he does not in this one say more about the concept of hope in the domain of politics. He confines himself to warnings, in common with the long tradition of Catholic social ...

The stakes could hardly be higher, but so are the odds. The international peace conference convened by President George Bush in Annapolis in the United States has brought together more than 40 states and international agencies in the search for the most elusive peace deal of all, one between the state of Israel and its hostile neighbours. The burden of the search for peace lies mainly on the shoulders of the Palestinian ...

From time to time an idea comes along that captures the mood of the moment. Eight years ago a new organisation, Fathers Direct, did just that. Its main aim was to provide information on fatherhood through training and advice, but its very existence reflected the growing belief that fathers should play as vital a role in the raising of children as mothers do. Indeed, much of Fathers Direct's focus has been on helping ...

In a remarkable speech analysing the relationship between belief and non-belief, Archbishop Bruno Forte has spelt out the basis for a new type of engagement between Catholicism and the secular world. Speaking to the Catholic bishops of England and Wales at their autumn conference, the archbishop of Chieti-Vasto in Italy made a distinction between "indifferent" non-believers and those who still addressed the ...

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 ...