| This surprising Pope Free Benedict XVI, who has just celebrated the third anniversary of his election as Pope, has surprised those who expected his papacy to be a seamless continuation of his role as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. There has been no ... | Global crisis to test the world |
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Features
Adding spice to the American mix Free George WeigelBenedict XVI knows that the Church in America faces an entirely different set of challenges from the Church in Europe, and his addresses during his visit will take account of that. Here one of the leading US commentators highlights the key issues...
|  The state we are inNicholas BoyleEarlier this year, Pope Benedict spoke of three signs of the times: globalisation, secularism and a search for spirituality outside institutional religion. As he visits the United States and addresses the United Nations, we examine these ‘signs’. Here, the president of Magdalene College, Cambridge, asks how useful the concept of secularism is for understanding the contemporary world... |
Less protection for the humanBruce Kent Amnesty International has veered from its traditional campaigning concern for prisoners of conscience. Its support for abortion in certain circumstances was confirmed at last week’s AGM. Some members have resigned, but others are still working from within to reverse this change of direction...
|  Benedict’s papacy comes of ageRobert MickensThree days after his eighty-first birthday, today marks the end of the third year since the papal election of Benedict XVI. The year was marked by the publication of his encyclical on hope. But his bold liturgical changes have caused the most controversy... |
 Love in the time of povertyNick HarnanMore used to trying to bring God to people, a missionary on a undercover quest to reconnect with the poorest and most deprived in Britain found instead that, in the grubbiest part of town, God was offered selflessly and unselfconsciously back to him... | From man’s man to free manDaniel O’LearyA visit to a prison revealed the damage that has been done to so many young men, some serving jail sentences, but most imprisoned in other ways. Yet the painful path to true liberation, through death to life, was also pointed out...
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A holy transactionDaniel McCarthyThe fact that our gifts are part of an exchange raises the question of what kind of response is required from us to God’s gift of the Word. Daniel McCarthy explains what lies behind the invitation to divine-human commerce...
| At your servicePaul HypherThe way that power is exercised in the Church should be neither democratic nor autocratic. The appropriate structure takes account of the fact that
church members are a communion of slaves, a true fellowship
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Columnists
 Tim Hames‘Until now, Red Ken has been more interested in St Patrick than St George’  Ann Wroe‘The chink of teaspoons on saucers in the café made a small concerto’
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Books and arts
China’s growing faiths Free
Religious Experience in Contemporary China
Xinzhong Yao and Paul Badham
Like a tree in spring, religion in China has put forth many shoots since the thaw after Mao's death in 1976. One illustration of this was a study published by Stanford ... |
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Is the Church too slow in recognising that academies are the future for Catholic schools?
Christopher Lamb
According to the chairman of governors at the Cardinal Vaughan School, west London, one ... Goodwin the scapegoat
Elena Curti
There was an old Sixties TV series, Branded, about a disgraced soldier that always began ... The pain of being a coeliac Catholic
Sr M, guest contributor
"Whoever comes to me, I shall not turn (him) her away" (John 6:37). Many readers will recognise ...
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